HOUSTON – Shriners Children’s Texas in Galveston is urging parents to pay closer attention to what their children are watching online, warning that viral social media challenges are increasingly leading to serious burn injuries.
The message is part of the hospital’s annual burn-prevention awareness week, but providers say this year looks different. They’re emphasizing online content monitoring as a form of burn prevention, because some of the trends spreading on social platforms involve microwaves, flammable liquids, or heated objects.
“It’s not worth it”: Challenges that turn into emergencies
Medical teams say they’re seeing children hurt while attempting stunts designed to get views and “go viral.” Some challenges involve placing items in a microwave until they swell, burst, or explode. Others involve dangerous experiments with flammable materials.
One particular trend providers are flagging involves “Needoh”-style stress toys. In some viral videos, kids are encouraged to microwave the toy to make it warm and gooey.
The danger is that if the toy doesn’t soften as expected, it can violently rupture inside the microwave and instantly scorch skin upon contact.
“You’d be surprised,” said Lyndsey Mata, an acute care pediatric nurse practitioner at Shriners Children’s Texas. “Some of the ones, putting things like a massage ball into the microwave and it explodes… or pouring gasoline on themselves to hurry up and jump into the shower… but all to what? Go viral? It’s not worth it. It’s lifelong consequences that occur.”
The injuries are often severe: second- and third-degree burns that can require multiple surgeries, skin grafts, and months of recovery.
The impact goes beyond physical wounds
Providers stress that burn injuries can change far more than a child’s skin.
“It isn’t just happening to the physical part,” Mata said. “It’s the mental, the emotional, the psychological aspect. It affects how they play, how they see themselves.”
She added that what children don’t see in viral challenge videos is what comes after, “the fear and the pain and the long road of recovery that’s ahead.”
Why parents may not realize what kids are seeing
The content is easy for children to stumble across. Even when parents believe safety controls are working, recommended videos and “challenge” compilations can surface quickly. Kids may encounter them through auto-play or shared links.
At Shriners Children’s Texas, clinicians say they treat burns like these all the time.
“So if we can prevent things from happening,” Mata said, “every child deserves a life without being injured.”
Mata said the bottom line is: no viral moment is worth a lifetime of consequences.