Across the country, students are short-circuiting their laptops at school in a new and sometimes dangerous social media trend.
The “Chromebook challenge” involves students jamming objects into their laptops until they spark and smolder. Students then record the smoking laptops and share the footage on TikTok and Instagram, sometimes set to music, as viewers react with heart and thumbs-up emojis.
It’s not just the expensive computers that get damaged: Floors and desks are scorched. Lessons are interrupted. Classrooms are evacuated. Fire and police departments are summoned. And some students have been suspended or even faced criminal charges, as schools work to stop the trend.
Here’s what to know.
How does it work?
The “Chromebook challenge” involves using objects such as push pins, staples, paper clips, metallic gum wrappers and graphite, found in pencil lead. They are inserted into USB or charging ports, under keyboard keys, or near the batteries to deliberately short-circuit the devices.
Sometimes the batteries are smashed to facilitate the reaction. Students from elementary through high school have been reported doing it.
“Unfortunately, we have seen instances of this dangerous behavior occurring in schools across our district,” Michael J. Testani, the superintendent of schools in Fairfield, Conn., said in a letter to families.
Scott Loehr, the superintendent for the Center Joint Unified School District in Roseville, Calif., said that on May 7, a middle school student inserted a sharp metal object into his laptop’s keyboard, causing it to smoke. His teacher evacuated the classroom and doused the device with a fire extinguisher.
“What we learned was the idea did come from TikTok or from this challenge,” Mr. Loehr said.
Now, a search on TikTok for videos of the challenge brings up a safety message about online challenges that “can be dangerous.”
TikTok said in a statement that it removes content that violates its policy on dangerous activities and challenges and is redirecting search terms and hashtags. Instagram did not reply to a request for comment.
Students have been suspended and fined.
School districts in Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Arizona, Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, California and Nevada and other states have sent letters to families, pleading with them to intervene. Some have suspended students and imposed fines of hundreds of dollars for damage to property and to the school-issued Chromebooks.
Some districts are also calling the police or excluding offenders from technology privileges on school grounds.
In the Boulder Valley School District, which has more than 28,000 students, the first sign that something was amiss came on May 2, when a column of white smoke spewed from a Chromebook during an advisory period in a band room at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colo. The device was moved into a hallway, where it melted the floor.
Staff members thought it had malfunctioned, said Randy Barber, the district spokesman.
Then, on May 5, smoke wafted from a laptop in Broomfield Heights Middle School. On May 6, a laptop at Angevine Middle School emitted smoke. Another middle school, an elementary school and a high school reported smoking laptops on May 6 and May 7.
The first few cases were referred to the information technology department.
When teachers reported smoking Chromebooks, Mr. Barber said, “I.T. staff put things together, after realizing that the computers had been tampered with and had similar damage.”
He said he had been hearing similar accounts from colleagues in the National School Public Relations Association. “It is something happening nationally,” Mr. Barber said.
A school evacuation and felony criminal charges.
On May 8, Belleville High School in Belleville, N.J., was evacuated after a student caused their Chromebook to smolder, the police, quoted by News 12, said. The student was charged with third-degree arson and criminal mischief, the police said.
A 13-year old girl was arrested in Long Beach, Calif., on May 8 in a classroom at Perry Lindsey Academy, according to the Long Beach Police Department. She was booked for felony arson of property, a police spokesman said. The Los Angeles Times reported that it was related to the Chromebook challenge.
In Maine, Don Rous, the Waterville Junior High School principal, told parents in a letter on May 7 that they were not allowing students to remove Chromebooks from school grounds because of concerns some could attempt the prank at home.
“If the spark was large enough, there is a chance that it could catch bedding, drapes, or furniture on fire,” he wrote. “That would put everyone in the home at risk.”
In Arizona on May 8, students at Bullhead City Middle School were evacuated after a Chromebook laptop began oozing smoke in a classroom. Firefighters and the police were summoned. Six Chromebooks were also vandalized at Fox Creek Junior High School, though none caught fire, the Bullhead City School District said.
No one was injured.
An 11-year-old male student faces a juvenile referral for charges of aggravated criminal damage and interference or disturbing an educational institution, the Bullhead City Police Department said.
The district superintendent, Dr. Carolyn Stewart, said in a statement to families that parents of children who damage school property might be financially liable.
“This is yet another urgent call for parents and guardians to talk to their children about social media responsibility, and the inherent dangers, and consequences that come with poor decisions,” she said “These are not innocent pranks.”
A few online challenges have been fatal.
In Virginia this month, an 18-year old was fatally shot by a resident at a house where he and his friends rang the doorbell and ran, for a ding-dong-ditch challenge.
Other dares include eating detergent pods and hot peppers. The Food and Drug Administration has warned about trends encouraging participants to consume large doses of Benadryl or to cook chicken in NyQuil. Some of the challenges are not widespread.
Dan Davis, the spokesman for the Carson City School District in Nevada, said administrators knew about previous viral rampages, including slapping teachers and destroying school toilets and soap dispensers.
So it braced for the possible appearance of the Chromebook challenge in its nine schools, warning families last week about it and saying there is a $300 fee to replace devices that are intentionally damaged. “We came out on the front end of things to dispel any challenges and to keep our parents and families apprised of the situation,” he said.
Why are students doing this?
“What makes teens do this?” Mr. Barber of the Colorado school district said. “I think I would say they are super curious. It is a little bit like wanting to do a science experiment.”
“Beyond that,” he said, “I don’t know.”
