In late March 2023, the parents of 13-year-old Esra Haynes received a phone call that no parent would ever like to receive. They learned that their daughter had been hospitalized after a sleepover at a friend's house. The parents were informed that Esra had inhaled deodorant gas as part of the "chroming challenge" that has been circulating on TikTok since 2019.

The girl suffered irreversible brain damage and had no chance of recovery. After eight horrendous days in the hospital, the devastated parents decided to disconnect their daughter from life support.

"Chroming" is not the first deadly challenge to circulate on TikTok. We have already written about the victims of the "blackout challenge" and the "Benadryl challenge."

Parents of children and teens face a serious dilemma. How to combine a legitimate concern for the child with the fact that social media is an integral part of our reality and complete disconnection from it, which some consider as a solution, can result in exclusion in the peer group?

It is worth remembering that no social media platform was designed for children in mind. Both TikTok and Instagram are intended for users over the age of 13. If adults enforced this rule with their kids, they wouldn't be hearing "but after all, everyone is using it" argument from them.

Teenagers should not use social media without control. Adolescence is a time when a major change occurs place in our brains. Parents should not therefore expect teenagers to control their impulses and be rational on a similar level as adults are.

It is the role of parents to acquire knowledge of what apps their kids are using are and what dangers are associated with them. Perhaps a good solution is what a popular comedian Katherine Ryan employed in her household. Her 13-year-old daughter Violet has access to social media, but all passwords are available to her parents. Ryan uses them occasionally but intentionally.

Katherine Ryan stresses that it is not a violation of her daughter’s privacy but merely a warning for Violet that everything she does online may be monitored. Ryan stresses that this awareness also extends to the people with whom Violet interacts online, which can have an inhibiting effect on the girl's reaching out with all sorts of strange ideas.

Of course, the cornerstone of protecting children from online and offline dangers is talking, discussing and reminding them, that such dangers exist. The worst possible tactic, on the other hand, is to restrict young people's online activities on a "no because no" basis. This is an easy route to give them incentive to circumvent incomprehensible bans.