Quick Answer: Harmful online challenges can encourage children to copy risky behaviour for views, laughs or approval from friends. Parents do not need to keep track of every viral trend. It is more useful to teach children how to recognise risky content, reduce their exposure to unsuitable websites and apps, and make it easy for them to talk about something uncomfortable they have seen online.
One week it is a dance challenge. The next it is a prank. Somewhere along the way, a trend can become risky enough to cause real harm.
For parents, the difficult part is how quickly these trends change. By the time adults learn the name of one challenge, children may already be watching something completely different.
Trying to memorise every dangerous trend on the internet is therefore not a very practical safety plan.
What makes an online challenge harmful?
Not every online challenge is dangerous. Most are harmless dances, jokes, recipes, games or creative trends.
Parents should pay closer attention when a challenge asks children to hurt themselves or someone else, misuse medicines or household objects, perform dangerous physical acts, humiliate another person, share private information or hide risky behaviour from adults.
Children and teenagers may also copy something because friends are doing it or because the comments make the behaviour seem normal. Something having thousands of likes does not tell a child whether it is safe.
Teach a rule that still works when the trend changes
Instead of explaining every dangerous challenge individually, teach children to pause before copying something they see online.
Ask them to think about whether it could hurt them, hurt somebody else, reveal something private or put them in a situation they would not choose if nobody were filming it.
For younger children, the rule can be even simpler: if a video asks you to do something strange, dangerous or secret, show an adult first.
That lesson will still make sense when tomorrow's viral trend has a completely different name.
Should parents show children examples of dangerous challenges?
Not always.
Constantly sending children frightening videos can introduce them to trends they had never heard of. It can also make online safety feel like a long list of things to fear.
A more useful conversation is about why extreme content spreads.
You can explain that people sometimes make a prank or challenge more shocking because unusual content gets attention. Popularity and safety are two completely different things.
Can parental controls block harmful online challenges?
Parental controls can reduce exposure to unsuitable content, but no tool can guarantee that a child will never see a risky post inside an otherwise allowed platform.
Filtering is therefore most useful as one part of a wider approach.
Happinetz filters apps and websites across 15 categories that parents can switch on or off depending on the access they want to give their child. It also includes whitelist and blacklist controls, internet schedules, Safe Search and Insights and History.
Happinetz currently monitors more than 110 million websites and apps. Its website states that more than 18 million adult websites and more than 4 million unsecured websites are blocked.
These controls can reduce exposure to unsuitable parts of the internet, but children still need to know what to do when problematic content appears inside a platform they are allowed to use.
What should you do if your child has already seen something disturbing?
Find out what happened before reacting.
Ask what they saw, whether somebody sent it directly to them and whether anyone asked them to take part.
If telling you about an uncomfortable online experience immediately results in every device being confiscated, your child may hesitate before telling you about the next one.
The more useful message is simple: if something online scares you, pressures you or feels wrong, you can come and tell me.
If another person is threatening, blackmailing or directly targeting your child, save relevant evidence before blocking and reporting the account.
Look for patterns rather than one suspicious moment
A child quickly closing an app when a parent walks into the room does not automatically mean something serious is happening.
Look instead for changes that appear together. Your child may seem anxious after checking the phone, frightened about receiving messages, secretive and upset at the same time, or under pressure from friends to participate in something.
One change by itself can mean very little. Several changes together are worth talking about.
Keep the rule easy to remember
A simple family rule can be:
See it. Stop. Check. Decide.
See what the content is actually asking you to do. Stop before copying it. Check whether it could hurt somebody or expose something private. If you are still unsure, ask an adult before deciding.
The internet will keep producing new challenges. Teaching children to stop and think gives them something they can use long after today's trend disappears.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are all viral online challenges dangerous?
No. Many are completely harmless. Parents should be more concerned about challenges involving injury, unsafe substances, humiliation, threats, secrecy or privacy risks.
Can an internet filter block every dangerous challenge?
No. Internet filtering can reduce access to unsuitable websites, apps or categories, but individual posts may still appear inside an allowed platform.
Should I ban social media if my child sees a dangerous trend?
That depends on the child's age and what happened. In many situations, discussing the content and reviewing access settings can be more useful than reacting to one incident with a permanent ban.
What should my child do if someone sends them a dangerous challenge?
They should avoid participating or forwarding it, tell a trusted adult and use the platform's block or report functions where appropriate.
