A Long Beach student has been arrested on suspicion of taking part in a national social media challenge that encourages students to stuff lead or metal into the ports of their Chromebook laptop computers.
“Chromebook Challenge” is a ticutoc trend for viruses where students short circuit school-issued Chromebook computers, causing sparks, smoke and, in some cases, fire.
Tiktok’s video shows students blocking leads from paper clips, pencils or mechanical pencils to USB ports.
A 13-year-old student was arrested Thursday in connection with an arson incident that occurred inside a classroom at Perry Linsey Academy, according to the Long Beach Police Department.
No injuries have been reported.
According to the Unified School District in Long Beach, students inserted foreign objects into the battery charging port, causing damage to the Chrome Book.
The district refused to say whether students were liable for damages to their computers.
This is not the first time a student has been disciplined in connection with damaging a Chromebook due to this social media challenge, but the district did not specify that other numbers have occurred.
The district is urging parents and caregivers to talk to students about the risks of participating in social media challenges.
“Inserting an object into a charging port is not safe and could lead to significant disciplinary action and legal consequences,” the district said in a statement. “We ask families to continue to reinforce responsible digital behavior at home and remind students. If you see something, say something.”
At Northern California middle schools, students took part in the challenge by creating smoke from their Chromebooks. The teacher drained the fire extinguisher using a smoking computer and evacuated the classroom.
Smoking incidents have been reported by school districts in Connecticut, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.
In Connecticut, Newington Public Schools superintendent Maureen Bulmamet said the chrome book is expensive and priced up.
The local firefighter in response to a Connecticut school filled with damaged Chromebook smoke told NBC that a computer battery produces toxic smoke when it is set on fire.
The challenge video was previously found on Tiktok by searching #chromebookchallenge, but the tag was removed by the app. Instead, Tiktok users will find the title “Your Safety Is Problem” and the message “Some online challenges can be dangerous, uncertain, and even manufactured.”
Users are invited to click the View Resources button to identify whether the challenges they see in the app are harmful.
Dangerous social media challenges have been awakening for many years, such as the 2016 Cinnamon Challenge (sucking a spoonful of cinnamon) and the 2018 Tide Pod Challenge.
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