Buzz
Every responsible parent worries about their children. However, at times, the media takes advantage of these concerns, crafting stories that suggest teenagers are always on the brink of complete self-destruction. This kind of sensationalism only fuels distrust and anxiety. While it’s important for parents to educate their kids about the risks of drugs, they likely don’t need to stress over fleeting trends like...
10. Eyeballing Alcohol
Not long ago, headlines were ablaze with reports that young people were supposedly consuming vodka by pouring it into their eyes. It might sound completely absurd, and that’s because it is. Irritating your eyes with alcohol could cause lasting damage and a painful burning sensation. Yet, numerous media outlets seemed convinced that this so-called trend was spreading across the globe, urging parents to talk to their teens about it. Allegedly, it would get you intoxicated faster—but that would only be true if there were any proof this was even happening in the first place.
Brian Moylan of Gawker.com suggests that these 'fake trends' are becoming increasingly common, following a predictable pattern. It all begins with a few real videos of someone doing something foolish, then the media inflates the number of such videos, brings in an expert to label it as dangerous, and before long, everyone is panicking over the 'new trend.' And let's not forget the simple fact that pouring vodka into your eye won’t even get you tipsy.
9. Shamboiling
A story that rapidly spread across the Internet claimed that kids were boiling shampoo on a stove to release ammonium lauryl sulfate. Once it reached the right temperature, the teenager would inhale the fumes—presumably smelling like body wash—and experience hallucinations. As you can likely guess, there is absolutely no evidence to support the idea that ammonium lauryl sulfate would cause any such effects.
To be fair, the story did originate from what seemed like a reliable source—CNN’s website. However, it was actually a CNN iReport, a user-submitted piece of content that CNN does not fact-check. People who weren’t familiar with iReports saw the trustworthy CNN logo and spread the rumor widely. Eventually, CNN updated the original iReport to clarify that they had contacted the DEA and other authorities, who found no evidence of such activities. By then, the damage had already been done. Perhaps CNN should exercise more caution when allowing unverified content on their platform.
8. Vodka Tampons
In 2011, a bizarre new 'teen drinking trend' surfaced: girls supposedly soaked tampons in vodka and inserted them for a quick high that would supposedly bypass a breathalyzer (boys could supposedly do the same by inserting the tampons rectally). Despite widespread media coverage, journalists struggled to find any proof that it was actually happening. In the end, Huffington Post editor Danielle Crittenden decided the only way to verify the story was to test it herself.
The largest tampon she tested could hold just over a shot of vodka, though she estimated losing about half of it while trying to insert it. Once it was in place, Crittenden reported an intense burning sensation, but no noticeable effects from the alcohol, aside from the usual lightheadedness from irritated areas. To ensure accuracy, she later consumed the same amount of alcohol the traditional way, which had a much stronger effect and no pain. The reality is that even if this method worked at all, it would be absurdly impractical (only one shot could be consumed at a time). Plus, it wouldn't help you beat a breathalyzer, since the device detects alcohol in your lungs through your bloodstream—no matter how the alcohol enters your body, the breathalyzer will pick it up.
7. The Knockout Game
The so-called knockout game is described as an alarming trend where groups of teens randomly target strangers for assault. The idea is that one teen tries to knock the target out with a single punch. If they fail, another teen steps in to try until the target is knocked unconscious. Whoever lands the knockout is considered the winner. While there is some limited evidence that isolated incidents might have occurred, the claims of the game spreading as a nationwide epidemic are completely unfounded.
Regrettably, this particular fabricated trend also carries a racial angle—it's said to be carried out by gangs of young black men, a detail that raised suspicions for the online magazine Slate. After investigating, Slate could find no evidence that the game was on the rise. They traced much of the buzz surrounding it to Colin Flaherty, a right-wing blogger and author of White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It.
Flaherty’s 'proof' of the game includes six attacks spread over two years in Philadelphia. There’s no clear pattern linking the incidents, nor any sign they were part of a game. Nonetheless, Flaherty has used these examples to argue that a wave of black-on-white violence is sweeping the country.
6. Beezin
It seems there’s no limit to what your foolish, foolish teenagers will try. No sooner had parents hidden their Smarties and shampoo than reports emerged of kids using Burt’s Bees lip balm and applying it to their eyelids. Stories differ on whether the lip balm itself is meant to induce a high or simply enhance the effects of other drugs.
But it gets even better. Remember the formula for “fake trends” we mentioned earlier? Well, this one ticks all the right boxes. It includes a video of someone performing the act, which is dubbed “beezin,” and they even brought in an expert to warn about the dangers. However, there was one error the media could have avoided if they had done a little more research—the creators of the video openly admit that it’s a parody at the end of the video itself. The mention of such a specific brand, combined with how utterly ridiculous it was, should have been a clue, but instead, it became a national news story simply because no one bothered to watch the credits.
5. Spunkball
The legend of Spunkball is about a group of bored teens in a car who stop at a traffic light and look for someone with an open window. When they find a target, they shout “Spunkball” and throw a gasoline-soaked rag wrapped in aluminum through the window. The rag is equipped with a firecracker, acting as a “fuse.” In essence, the idea is to firebomb the car. While the story started as a typical urban legend, it gained more traction after a tragic accident.
The rumor was initially spread through an email forward, concluding with a warning to keep your car windows rolled up to avoid being hit by random missiles of bored teens. It didn’t gain much traction until an Allstate employee unwittingly forwarded the email—along with her signature stating that she worked for Allstate. Unfortunately, this led many to believe that it was an official warning from the insurance company, advising customers to keep their windows rolled up for safety.
4. Snorting Smarties
If we are to believe the media, kids today are supposedly snorting crushed Smarties and risking 'nasal maggots' in the process. The media spun the idea that snorting Smarties was a widespread trend, with teens putting themselves in danger of things like nose irritation and those infamous maggots.
There are, of course, several flaws in this story. First, while the media portrayed it as a new widespread phenomenon, the reality is that there are only a few unverified reports of isolated cases. And let’s face it, many of us have tried silly things as kids (who hasn’t pretended to smoke a Twizzler at some point?). The fact is, any real risks are minimal and would only arise if someone made a habit of snorting Smarties. There are no documented cases of this happening—likely because there’s no evidence that Smarties dust is in any way addictive. The whole 'nasal maggot' thing came from a Mayo Clinic expert who acknowledged that while it was theoretically possible, no such case had ever actually occurred.
3. Pharm Parties
Back in 2006, USA Today published a story claiming that teen pharmaceutical abuse was rising. The article included a wild anecdote that has since been repeated by numerous outlets, yet no hard evidence has ever surfaced to support it. The story suggested that teens were raiding their parents' medicine cabinets, gathering the pills at parties, and randomly swallowing handfuls just to see what would happen. Thankfully, Slate stepped in to debunk the entire claim.
Slate’s Jack Shafer conducted an investigation and found that, while it’s true that kids have been stealing drugs from their parents' medicine cabinets for as long as medicine cabinets have existed, the notion of tossing pills into a bowl and grabbing them at random wasn’t based on any factual evidence. None of the numerous news stories about the so-called phenomenon presented any solid proof that it was actually happening. The closest Shafer came to finding any source was a quote from a former heroin addict, who said the idea of randomly ingesting pills was so terrifying that it even scared him. However, the addict didn’t mention ever attending such a party or even hearing of one. So, parents, rest easy—there’s no need to worry that your kids are engaging in random pill-swallowing games with their friends.
2. I-Dosing
Various media outlets have hyped I-Dosing as the latest teen trend to be worried about, but it’s never really gained much momentum. This may be because most people find it hard to take the idea of getting high from sound seriously. I-Dosing is based on the use of binaural beats—sounds that require headphones to be effective—to produce a mental state similar to that of taking certain drugs. However, there's no need to panic, as research has shown that binaural beats do not actually chemically alter the brain in any way.
Psychology Today reports that binaural beats are not harmful to kids. In fact, they’ve even been used in therapeutic settings. Yet, as with many things teens do, there’s always a group of people who claim that it's the next big danger. Despite the evidence showing binaural beats are harmless—and even beneficial in some cases—some narcotics enforcement officials are worried that they might act as a ‘gateway drug.’ It’s a bit difficult to understand how something could be a gateway drug when it’s not even a drug to begin with.
1. Smoking Bedbugs
For those living in the comfort of modern cities, far removed from the harsher aspects of nature, bedbugs have become one of the most terrifying creatures of contemporary life. These pests don’t seek food or filth—they crave the sweet blood running through your veins. So it’s no surprise that many were shocked when rumors spread that kids were allegedly crushing up bedbugs to smoke them in order to get high.
Fortunately, it turned out that this whole story was just an April Fools' prank. The video that fueled the rumors was actually edited footage from a report on the dangerous use of 'dab'—butane-extracted hash oil. Despite the reveal, many still believe the tale, even though a quick fact-check would show that bedbugs have no mind-altering properties, unless you count the psychological toll of an infestation.
