The case of the 16-year-old teenager from Drobeta Turnu Severin who vandalized two cars following a challenge received on Tik Tok has caused numerous reactions in the online environment. The current situation also reflects a phenomenon: that of harmful online challenges.
The behavior of the teenager, harshly criticized
Many Reddit users reacted after the 16-year-old’s feat and criticized the terrible behavior.
“Once you do something illegal and film yourself, it’s clear that your IQ is seriously below average”someone wrote.
At the same time, many say the challenge should be severely punished after it emerged that the car owners had withdrawn their complaints because the parents said they would bear the cost of the repairs:
“I wouldn’t withdraw that complaint even in 10 years, I would replace the windshield on my own money, just to know that he was sanctioned for real.”
,Criminal files. To take them and damages”
Another commenter sees things from a different perspective:
“After wasting time without the car, with the car through the service, with rain/snow in the car (if it breaks completely), you also waste time through the courts for the trial and appeal.”
The influence of social media
Among a lot of racist or extremist comments, someone chose a more empathetic approach and talked about the influence of social media
“We all have ambitions to be accepted and admired by those around us. Social media has manipulated us into seeking acceptance and admiration from as large an audience as possible, to get their attention as quickly and as easily as possible. I’m not saying this didn’t happen before, in fact it happened often and just as often they were filming it for posterity. The problem is that now they are visible and encouraged by a mainstream audience.”
What are online challenges
“Challenges” are viral trends on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, where users are asked to perform certain actions for views, likes and popularity. They can be harmless (such as dancing to viral songs or lip syncing to popular sounds) or dangerous (gestures that put them in physical danger or illegal acts, as in the case now).
Why are there young people who say “yes” to dangerous challenges
The reasons are multiple:
- The desire for attention and validation. Young people may be tempted to accept challenges to get likes and comments, even if it’s something risky.
- Peer pressure: Comments and encouragement during the video (for example, other young people encouraging him) can intensify the decision to participate in the challenge.
- Lack of awareness of consequences: Teenagers may not fully realize that the act will have legal, financial and social repercussions.
Why dangerous trends can become popular
The platforms’ algorithms promote content that quickly gets views, shares and reactions, whether positive or negative.
In addition, the human brain is often attracted to “unusual” things, and people are naturally more attentive to negative information than to neutral or positive ones, say anthropologists. The phenomenon is called “negativity bias” and has several explanations:
- Strong emotions: Negative events generate more intense emotions than neutral or positive ones. Fear, anger or shock stay longer in the mind.
- More intensive cognitive processing: The brain dwells more on bad things to understand what happened and prevent them from happening again.
