Younger children, teens being hurt over dangerous social media challenges, doctors say

ORLANDO, Fla. — Some social media challenges encourage kids to participate in a daring and sometimes dangerous trend online.

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One local pediatric critical care physician said children are getting seriously hurt all in their quest to get likes on social media.

Channel 9 spoke with critical care pediatrician Dr. Jenna Wheeler about challenges that had sent kids to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital.

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Some of the dangerous challenges include car surfing, the milk crate challenge, and the Benadryl challenge.

That was in the summer. Come fall, Wheeler said things slowed down. But as the year comes to an end.

“We’ve seen that go back up,” Wheeler said “Again, we’re seeing, you know, the strangulation challenges the blackout challenges. “It’s a challenge where essentially, kids are cutting off their oxygen supply in an attempt to black blackout and have this euphoric experience.”

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She said although the challenges change, the age range stays consistent. She sees teenagers and even children as young as 9 come in needing critical care.

“We’ve seen cases where kids will never be the same, they will never be able to walk and talk and do the things that they were once able to do,” Wheeler said.

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Wheeler wants parents to have an important talk with their kids and build a deeper understanding.

See more in the video above.

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