Another internet challenge is doing the rounds, only this time it could be deadly.

The last challenge to make headlines was the #broomstickchallenge, or #broomchallenge (depending on your preference) that successfully tricked those poor souls who don’t understand how gravity works into balancing a broom on February 10.

NASA became involved, videos were shared – it was a whole thing.

Now we seem to have moved on to the #skullbreakerchallenge, which is made out to sound a little worse than it is, but does still pose some serious risk.

Over to Parent24:

The South African Police Service has posted a warning regarding the latest trending social media challenge, urging parents to guide their children to “become safe and responsible users on social networking websites.”

Their warning comes in response to a video showing three local Pretoria-based boys doing the trending TikTok skull breaker challenge.

The Skull Breaker Challenge originated in Spain. Refinery describes how it works:

The challenge involves two people in on the prank standing on either side of a third person who does not know what is about to happen. All three people stand in a straight line and are told to jump in the air. The person in the middle, who is, again, not aware of the challenge, jumps believing the other two will jump as well, but what they actually do is kick inward to knock the middle person off of their feet and onto their head.

Here’s that video of the three Pretoria boys attempting the challenge:

In the video above, the boy who falls to the ground manages to come away unscathed, but that hasn’t been the case in all instances.

As the skull breaker challenge makes its way around the world, at least two children in the United States have been hospitalized attempting the challenge, according to Yahoo News.

Administrators at a school in Colombia condemned the challenge online after one of the videos was filmed at the school. While they did not mention whether serious injuries were sustained as a result of the stunt, the school was clear that the challenge would not be allowed.

It’s been reported that a Brazilian teen has died due to injuries caused after being pranked with the Skull Breaker Challenge, and in Thailand, the challenge has been banned and criminalised.

Here’s a compilation of some videos taken from TikTok:

If you’re reading this and wondering why anyone would do something so stupid, keep in mind that most, if not all of the people to try the challenge so far, have been teens.

Back to Parent24, who spoke to Psychology and Criminology lecturer James McCue:

“The relationship between brain development and the risk of making poor choices… is referred to as psychosocial maturity. Overall, teenagers’ psychosocial immaturity makes them more likely to: seek excitement and engage in risk-taking behaviour.”

Teens have a tendency to seek out the approval of their friends and will go to great lengths to get it, with little concern for their personal safety.

The best you can do as a parent is to warn your children about the possible, life-altering consequences of a blow to the head.

[sources:parent24&refinery]