Society is all about social media these days, from who can look the flyest on Instagram to who can go viral the quickest by doing something outlandish for the entire world to see. The latter is the main reason why TikTok is so popular, especially when it comes to the platform’s weekly “challenges” that see users blindly following a growing trend if they find it funny enough.
The latest is called the #PutYourShoesOn challenge, a prank where parents randomly go up to their kids while recording and tell them a made-up situation that requires the child to help their mom or dad fight. The idea is to see if the child will show blind loyalty, be apprehensive by asking questions or show fear and possibly start crying in protest.
While it’s definitely garnered some hilarious reactions, some are questioning whether or not it promotes a negative message to kids overall that violence is okay if the circumstances call for it.
Is that the message we want to be teaching developing minds?
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The examples seen above are just a handful out of the hundreds, thousands even, of videos that are currently floating around social media. While some children are ready to go and even show levels of excitement at the opportunity to “defend the family,” some kids have displayed clear signs of anxiety and a true fear that either their parent is in serious trouble or they’ll lose the fight themselves.
Many have since began voicing feelings of worry of what this could be planting in the minds of our youth. Popular Black activist and social commentator Marc Lamont Hill spoke out against the challenge recently, co-signing another person who detested it with a quoted tweet that reads, “I’ve been wanting to tweet this for a day or so. I get the cuteness of seeing your kid ready to ride for you. But this is unhealthy. Truly.”
He later followed up with another tweet that spoke to the problem on a grander scale, writing, “It makes me so sad when I see children publicly exploited for internet clout. Whether it’s intentionally making them cry, giving them humiliating punishments, or exposing their most intimate moments, we must all do better to protect their dignity and innocence.”
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When it comes down to it, we absolutely believe in having some fun that can be shared across the world by way of the capabilities provided to us by the Internet. With that said, many people are bringing up good points in terms of how this could send a bad message to children or do worse by emotionally traumatizing them.
Take a look at what some are saying about the #PutYourShoesOn Challenge, and as always let us know what side of the debate you fall on:
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