Teens are great with coming up with pointless and sometimes dangerous fads that prove to us adults that their brains still aren’t fully developed.
Thanks to the internet, those fads spread like wild fire, putting more and more teens in danger.
Remember The Cinnamon Challenge? If you have no idea what I am talking about, it’s a “game” where you are supposed to put a spoon full of ground cinnamon in your mouth and attempt to swallow it without anything else to help wash it down.
The challenge is pretty much impossible.
There are plenty of YouTube videos demonstrating the challenge with the results usually ending with someone gagging, vomiting, coughing and/or choking.
Why this may sound stupid to us with fully developed brains, thousands of teens have taken this challenge with some ending up in the hospital.
According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, there were 222 cases of abuse or misuse of cinnamon last year with the numbers steadily increasing.
Trying the cinnamon challenge can be damaging to the lungs with at least one teen being hospitalized with a collapsed lung when she attempted the challenge.
A newer, potentially even more dangerous fad is the The Condom Challenge.
In The Condom Challenge teens open up a condom, snort it through their nostrils, and then attempt to pull it out of their mouths.
You can see the health hazards in this.
Condoms can easily get lodged in the windpipe, causing a person to have trouble breathing or not be able to get any oxygen at all. I haven’t heard of any deaths yet, but as this fad spreads, it’s most likely only a matter of time.
Teens do a lot of stupid things when they get bored and are around or influenced by other teens, including doing drugs, drinking alcohol, and now apparently trying to swallow ground cinnamon and inhaling condoms.
Teens who have better things to do, like go to parks, participate in recreational activities, school sports and/or clubs are less likely to find themselves bored enough or interested enough to try the new fads.
Teens think that they are invincible and nothing will go wrong, but they do go wrong, often very quickly and un-expectantly.
It’s important that teens realize that they are their own person and they don’t have to follow other people in their real lives or in their online lives to be popular or cool.
As parents, caregivers and adults, we have to be aware of the fads our teens are facing and the hazards that go along with them. What may sound stupid, idiotic and dangerous to us most likely sounds harmless, challenging and fun to them.
Teens will be teens and they will be reckless and risk takers. It’s all a part of their developmental stage. Still, our jobs are to educate them and keep them safe the best we can so they can live long enough to become adults and reflect back on how stupid they were when they were teens, just as most of us do.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor 
Teens can be really stupid sometimes.
-a teenager
Thanks for reading and commenting! Yeah, I was a stupid teen once, but it seems like today it’s easier for teens to do stupid things, record themselves doing it and then share it with the world so other teens can follow their stupid acts.
I agree with you even though its difficult to “insult” teenagers because i am one, regardless I never even thought of trying the cinnamon challenge or the condom challenge, I always considered them to be foolish, dangerous and basically just stupid. I think parents can prevent this only a little bit for children always find a way to do it regardless of their parents.
Bye,
I don’t know if I can click the “Like” button for this one…. Such a bizarre trend. I hope none of my kids or their friends think this looks like fun. Gross….
Totally agree. Some of these things teens today find fun are just gross and even disturbing. Some other articles I read were suggesting that maybe teens weren’t taught about using condoms so this is what they came up with or even more disturbing is that this could be sort of a gateway into having sex… strange indeed.
My first thought when watching the video of that girl was: “is she doing this because she thinks guys will think it’s sexy or hot?” As strange and odd as snorting a condom seems–if a girl is willing to do this, take a video and post it on social media… It makes me think that guys her age are thinking she’s putting herself out there. Willing to do something out of the norm to impress people. So yes, I think it could be a (albeit strange) gateway to sex.
I agree. Although I haven’t met a young teen male yet who has found this to be sexy, apparently they are out there.
Thanks, Torey, for this wonderful post. I had no idea about these things. I learn something new everyday. Thanks a lot, I work with college kids. This is very helpful! I am sharing this.
Good day.
Thank you Samantha. There is always so much going on with teenagers, it’s hard to keep up with the latest things they are doing, but I am lucky to work in a high school and to have a niece in high school which help keep me updated 🙂
Thanks for your comment Torey. I agree with you, it’s hard to keep up with all the ideas many teenagers come up with. I work with high school students transitioning into college. This information is very important to me and my colleagues. You have a great blog!
We will continue reblogging some of your posts, if you don’t mind. Our blog is designed for students and counselor interns. I like your blog because you use a language that everybody can understand.
Thanks. Good day, Torey.
Reblogged this on All Things Substance Abuse Counseling and commented:
Wow! I learn something new every day. This is very important for those of you with teenagers, whether they are your children or your students. Please share this post. Thanks Torey!
This is totally strange behavior of teens…i am hearing it for the first time. they might be doing all this stupid acts In peer pressure or to impress others.
*invincible, not invisible.
Thanks for catching that gaff!! It’s much appreciated 🙂 I always proof read my posts and hate when I go back to something I wrote months ago and still find an error.
the rest of the article was exceptional, but that just stood out and irritated me >_<