Viral internet challenges have been all the rave in recent years. People on Social Media have spent countless hours trying to outdo each other in crazy dares in exchange for internet notoriety. It is this desire that has led to perplexing challenges such as the Ice Bucket Challenge, the Cinnamon Challenge, the Slime Challenge, and even the Charlie Charlie Challenge just to name a few. While most viral challenges have been relatively harmless, a recent challenge has put the lives of its participants at risk: the tide pod challenge.

Tide Pods, created by the Tide Company, is a laundry detergent capsule that is meant to be used for cleaning purposes only. However, people all across the internet has a different use of them. Last December, individuals started intentionally consuming the pods. This became known as the Tide

Pod challenge. Although this looked harmful on camera, the tide pods are actually poisonous and can cause detrimental effects to the body. Over the last year, over 12,000 calls were made to poison control in the US. Unfortunately, at least 8 people died from eating them, 6 adults and 2 children.

What makes this challenge so trendy? These Tide Pod capsules, with their colorful and bright appearances, resembles a piece of candy. In search of internet fame, teens are consuming these capsules and posting videos of themselves spitting out foam online.

This phenomenon is a reflection of a greater issue affecting teenagers and young adults today: that of receiving attention on social media. Two months ago, a woman was sentenced to second-degree manslaughter after accidentally killing her boyfriend when the couple tried to pull a stunt involving a gun to post on YouTube. Young people are willing to go to great lengths to get attention and will stop at nothing, even risking their own lives, to do so.

What can be done about this?

Recently, YouTube and Facebook removed all videos showing the Tide Pod Challenge in attempts of trying to stop the spread of this challenge. By removing the videos, participants in the tide pod challenge will no longer get any attention for doing it, hopefully discouraging such risky behaviors.

Tide, the creators of the tide pod, has also put in an effort to stop the hazard. They’ve put special labels on their product warning consumers not to eat them and changed the packaging so they don’t look as much like candy anymore. They’ve also created an online response regarding this issue. In addition to tweets about what to do if someone has eaten a tide pod, they’ve also hired Rob Gronkowski, a famous football player, to do a commercial discouraging the spectacle.

Overall, one of the main reasons why these internet phenomena exist is because of a desire for attention. While the government, Tide, and social media platforms can try to prevent these tragedies, they can only do so much. These people ultimately make their own decisions and must face the “tide” of their decision.