The “eraser challenge” might sound like a fun schoolyard game involving a run-of-the-mill classroom supply, but its damage isn’t necessarily something that’s easily wiped away.
The eraser challenge — which has been around for several years — involves a competition of sorts. Kids and teens will perform a task like reciting the alphabet repeatedly while rubbing erasers hard and fast on their skin. The game continues until the last child tolerating the friction is declared the winner. But such challenges bring more than just bragging rights. This particular eyebrow-raising stunt has sent kids to the hospital with infections.
Dr. Yolanda Reid Chassiakos, a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California–Los Angeles’ David Geffen School of Medicine, tells U.S. News that the eraser is an abrasive agent. When it rubs against and scratches the skin, it causes a wound that can get infected — and possibly become serious. The pain associated with the challenge could outlast the duration of the contest, despite an initial adrenaline rush blocking some of it, says Chassiakos, who also directs the Klotz Student Health Center at California State University–Northridge.
Today.com pointed out a Facebook post and accompanying photo highlighting a possible consequence of the challenge.
“Kids don’t know this, but your skin isn’t sterile, it’s crawling and teeming with bacteria and when you open up your skin, that bacteria can crawl in and cause an infection,” Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, a Seattle pediatrician and Seattle Mama Doc blog author, told Today.
“Most kids are going to play this stupid game and have redness in their skin, create a scab and they might be left with a scar,” she continued. “Most kids will do fine because our immune systems are just profound.”
But this still begs the question: Why are kids doing this in the first place? Look no further than the internet and its associated risks.
“… Behaviors that might have been outliers in the past, because there are large numbers of people on the internet who engage in such behaviors, they’re seen as being more typical or more normal, normative behaviors,” Chassiakos says.
Teens could spot something on the internet, or be challenged directly after viewing a trending game online (as with the eraser challenge) and succumb to peer pressure — even the virtual kind.
Chassiakos adds that the risk isn’t in what teens are thinking about when engaging in this activity. It’s more about the potential for these challenges to make them the star of a viral video or a legend among classmates.
She suggests families visit the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Family Media Plan, which can foster conversation between parents and teens. The page includes advice on the consequences of online bullying, as well as tips on helping teens balance online and offline time.
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Why Your Kids Should Stop Doing the ‘Eraser Challenge’ originally appeared on usnews.com
