A new TikTok challenge has kids attempting to short-circuit school-issued Chromebooks

laptop on fire
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

A dangerous viral trend has been going around TikTok where kids try to make their Chromebooks start smoking by putting foreign metallic objects in their ports. These items include pins, paperclips, staples, and scissors, among others, which are all readily available around the classroom. According to Ars Technica, many school districts have quickly taken action, with those in Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Washington sending written warnings to parents about the risky challenge.

There have been multiple reports of students trying the challenge, which sometimes results in their laptop smoking or catching fire. And because there’s a high risk of explosion with damaged lithium batteries, these incidents resulted in classroom evacuations, class cancellations, and, in some cases, deployment of firefighters or other first responders. One incident had a student sticking a pair of scissors into a laptop, causing it to release a lot of toxic smoke. This led to one student being sent to the hospital for inhalation, while the offender is now facing charges in juvenile court.

This isn’t the first time a dangerous viral trend has started circulating on popular social media. We’ve seen several “challenges” in the previous years, including the Kia Challenge, which showed how easy it was to steal certain Kia and Hyundai model years and led to a rise in car thefts just for clout on TikTok.

Grosse Ile High School evacuated after student reportedly causes Chromebook fire - YouTube Grosse Ile High School evacuated after student reportedly causes Chromebook fire - YouTube
Watch On

There was also the Blackout Challenge, where kids would strangle themselves on live video until they passed out, which, unfortunately, has led to several accidental deaths. Finally, there was the Penny or Outlet Challenge in early 2020, where those trying it would insert a plug into a power outlet and then slide a penny onto the exposed prongs, leading to short circuits.

TikTok reacted quickly when the news started going viral and shut down the challenge. We got no results when we searched for Chromebook Challenge on the social media platform. Instead, we got this warning: “This phrase may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines. Promoting a safe and positive experience is TikTok’s top priority. For more information, we invite you to review our Community Guidelines.”

We did get some results when we searched for Chromebook durability, which showed some people purposefully throwing their laptops against hard surfaces or bending them to see how long they would last. We even saw one clip of a person scratching the laptop’s port with a metal pin, but none showed a Chromebook smoking or catching fire.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.

Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

  • Zaranthos
    Just another post block by stupid AI moderation. I can't be bothered to try and retype a post because AI is worried about hurt feelings or unsafe words.
    Reply
  • Reverend_Clint
    Damn... we would just get drunk and look at porn
    Reply
  • alrighty_then
    I remember putting a paperclip through the eraser of a pencil and causing sparks jamming that into an outlet in a school hallway. Not much has changed.
    Reply
  • Roland Of Gilead
    Sadly, this kind of thing is happening more and more frequently. Seems the more relative danger there is, the bigger the attraction becomes. Peer pressure is a real thing. Some kids are under pressure to conform to whatever group mentality is prevalent close to them. Some of the abuse teenagers suffer at the hands of Socials like Tik-Tok, FB et all, are horrendous. I would not like to be a teenager in the world as is current. It's a scary medium to be in with social apps.

    With that said, yes, we were all young once. Did we do stupid thigs, and trick around? Yes. Did we try to cause mayhem in classrooms or try to set things on fire? Well, maybe some, but not the majority. Now it's seems that metric has flipped, and most are now doing these kinds of things.
    Reply
  • micheal_15
    Parents react with shock as their kids attempt the "juggling a petrol-driven chainsaw" challenge.

    Said one parent: "He didn't even livestream it!"

    His mother said "I'm restricting his 4yr old brother to playing with water balloons filled with concentrated Nitric Acid"
    Reply
  • M0rtis
    Theres also a Tik Tok challenge to set yourself on fire .....
    Reply
  • newtechldtech
    memories .. I remember pouring sugar into the teacher car gas tank ... some added water ... yeah ..
    Reply
  • helper800
    There have been reports of this in my district, however, there have not been any fires. There has been some smoke in at least one instance. I believe that the worst is already over though.
    Reply
  • Elusive Ruse
    I’m convinced Tik Tok is run by Dharma Initiative.
    Reply
  • Geef
    Just make an official rule: First kid who does it gets suspended for X days with a ride from cops to juvenile hall.
    If any other kids do it, they are kicked out of school, forever.
    I'm sure a school principal with a deep voice would love telling that to kids and saying the line.
    "You have been warned."
    Reply