An 11-year-old boy in the UK has died after taking part in a dangerous TikTok trend called ‘chrome’. His family is now calling for the app to be removed and the children to be banned from social media completely.
tommy lee gracie billington died after suffering suspected cardiac arrest at a friend’s home in Lancaster on Saturday. times of london report.
“He died instantly after a sleepover at a friend’s house. The boys were trying out the TikTok trend of ‘chrome plating,'” said Billington’s grandmother, Tina Burns. “Tommy Lee immediately went into cardiac arrest and he died on the spot. The hospital did everything they could to bring him back, but to no avail. He was gone.”
Chrome treatment is a trend that involves fumes from everyday products such as cleaning supplies and aerosols. Videos of teenagers and younger children participating in the trend have been posted on various social media platforms, including Chinese-owned TikTok.
This act can cause a state similar to drunkenness or a high, but the enjoyment does not last long. Chrome processing, also known as “huffing”, has killed several teenagers around the world.
Australian girl Esra Haines was just 13 years old when she died on March 31, 2023, after getting chrome plated at a sleepover. Sun report.
When the Irish girl was 14 years old, died Investigators believe she became ill after inhaling an aerosol after watching a TikTok “challenge.” irish independent.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement at the time:
Our hearts go out to the family who have suffered this tragic loss. This type of content is prohibited on our platform and will be removed if found. We will continue to prioritize protecting and supporting our communities, working with our professional partners to provide safety resources to those who need them.
Burns said his late grandson “had a heart of gold, just like his father.”
“Our family is completely devastated,” she continued, calling for additional safety measures.
“We don’t want other kids following TikTok or being on social media,” she said, referring to Billington’s friend’s family.
“In fact, we want to remove TikTok and prevent children under 16 from accessing social media. We are all shocked by this, but we want to ensure that other children do not have access to social media.” We want to save lives and educate families to keep their children safe.”
Numerous other TikTok trends are leading to even more teen deaths. benadryl overdose Breitbart News reported on the case of 13-year-old Jacob Stevens from Ohio in April 2023.
There are more reports revealed They claim that the app’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-influenced algorithms encourage suicide in the form of other drug overdoses or suffocation.
the study The phenomenon, which suggests TikTok is worsening young people’s attention spans, is known as “TikTok brain.”
Neuropsychologist Sanam Hafeez said: hustle and bustle “When you scroll through something that makes you laugh, your brain releases a lot of dopamine,” and “When you see something you don’t like, you can quickly switch to something that produces more dopamine.”
These dopamine releases can train young minds to get used to getting short-term gratification from harmful content.
