Pennsylvania Girl Dies Due To TikTok Challenge: How To Keep Your Children Safe From Social Media Dangers

10-year-old Neela Anderson spoke three languages ​​and was an athletic, bright and cheerful girl. In early December, her mother, Tavina Anderson, went to check on her daughter and found her unconscious. TODAY.

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As Neela spent the next few days in the pediatric intensive care unit, her family discovered that she had accidentally harmed herself while attempting the blackout challenge, a dangerous challenge in which people restrict their breathing to the point of passing out.

A few days after arriving at the hospital, Neela passed away.

“We believe it was an accident and we know that she was viewing these videos on social media,” said Elizabeth Wood, a licensed clinical social worker at Nemours Children's Hospital of Delaware, where Neela was treated.

“Nila's mom, with great courage, spoke out about her tragedy so that others would know her daughter's story so that no other parents, no other mother, would have to go through what she was going through,” Wood said.

The blackout challenge is also sometimes referred to as the choking game or the fainting game. It has been around for many years, but sometimes reappears on social media.

“There are different variations of this, but the idea is that the person stops the flow of oxygen,” Wood explained. “People might think they can get some kind of high from it.”

In April, a 12-year-old boy from Colorado died of this challenge.

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Often people do this in the presence of someone, so that someone can help bring them to their senses.

“They think this person can save you, but that doesn't always work,” Wood said. -Children and teenagers, their brains are developing, and they are not able to understand the consequences of their behavior and that it is unsafe. They can be very impulsive."

'Butterfly'

In an interview, a mother who lost her child shares her thoughts on her daughter and the dangers on social media.

“She was a butterfly,” said Anderson, of Chester, Pennsylvania.

“I just want people to pay attention and know about TikTok ... Just pay attention because you never know what to find on their phones or what they are trying. They do it because they are children and they don’t know anything, ”she added.

Wood supported and comforted the family while Neela was in intensive care from her hospitalization on December 7th until her death on December 12th. Despite the fact that she did not know the girl before the accident, she learned more about her.

“I saw a lot of pictures and videos of her in the few days I spent with the family and she was just full of life. She and her twin brother (Nakje) were very athletic, very active, always on the move,” Wood said. “These were busy, happy, healthy 10-year-olds.”

Social media and kids

Wood said Anderson knew that Neela, her siblings and cousins ​​watched TikTok frequently and made their own dance and lip-sync videos.

But Anderson had no idea that dangerous videos were lurking on the platform. Neela did not suffer from mental disorders and never expressed any desire to harm herself.

“Nila’s mother did not know that the children’s behavior was becoming increasingly risky. When Nila was in the hospital, they discovered some of the videos she had watched that she had taken herself,” Wood said.

“These challenges are becoming more and more risky, and children of this age and even teenagers and young people do not understand the consequences of what they are doing,” she added.

A TikTok spokesperson stated that any content that promotes dangerous behavior is a violation of TikTok's community guidelines. The app says it does not serve search results or hashtags related to the blackout challenge.

“This disturbing 'issue' that people seem to be hearing about from sources other than TikTok predates our platform and was never a TikTok trend,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety. We will immediately remove such content if found. We express our deepest condolences to the family for their tragic loss, ”he said.

Wood hopes that parents will talk to their children more often about social media and keep a close eye on how they use it.

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“What's most important is to maintain open communication with your children so that you, as a parent, talk to them about what they're seeing and what they're thinking,” she said.

“This is your opportunity to talk about safety... and why things and behavior can be dangerous,” the doctor added.

Sometimes parents worry that if they bring up a difficult topic, it might push their child to do so. But this is not the case.

“Parents are concerned that if they talk to their children, they might create more curiosity, but that communication is very important,” Wood said.

“Keeping open communication with your children allows children to ask questions of their parents. And this is absolutely necessary for the safety of our children, ”she stressed.

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