In most cases, viral challenges are harmless or meant to spread awareness for certain things, like the Ice Bucket Challenge from a couple of years ago. However, there are also examples of challenges that are dangerous to the health and safety of people, like the Tide Pod challenge. Recently, a new challenge has gone viral in the United States: The Chromebook challenge. The challenge is destroying school property and causing dangerous situations in schools. Keep on reading to discover what the challenge is!
What is the Chromebook Challenge?
In the United States, schools often give students access to Chromebook laptops to use for class projects and homework. In some cases, the schools give the kids permission to take their laptops home to do some more research for projects. However, it is exactly these Chromebooks that are being abused in the Chromebook challenge.
In the Chromebook challenge, students poke hard metal objects such as paperclips into the computer’s USB port. This can cause it to short-circuit. When it does, a large amount of electricity will go through the computer and can cause the battery to explode. This then releases toxic fumes and can even cause fires.
The trend went viral in early 2025 on social media platforms like TikTok. Currently, the search term “Chromebook Challenge” redirects to a part of the user agreement on posting dangerous challenges. However, it is not stopping kids from posting them. They’re still sharing them by posting videos with tags like “ChromebookDurabilityTest” and others.
Schools across the states are in trouble
The challenge has taken a very dark turn and caused multiple schools across the states to evacuate. In some cases, it was because the computer caught fire that caused the school to evacuate. However, in other cases, the laptops began smoking and releasing toxic fumes.
In a school in Michigan, one of the students was sent to the hospital. The kid had to be examined after potentially being exposed to the toxic fumes. A Chromebook laptop also caused this after another student caused it to catch fire.
Credit:
- Featured image: CNN
