Taking part in viral challenges online has become commonplace in the 21st century. Clips shared to social media of doing a dance, dunking yourself with ice or making mini horror films inspired by a milkshake have all become popular. But while most of the challenges and trends are harmless - occasionally they take a darker turn.
The internet has changed our lives in many ways - both big and small. But perhaps none more significant in how easy it is to share clips of ourselves around online. Before mobile phones became widespread, you would need a VCR or a digital camera to film a “home video”.
It would require actually remembering to have it set up, putting in an empty video tape (who remembers those!) and of course remembering to actually hit record. Fast forward a couple of decades and it couldn’t be easier to quickly whip out your phone and record something. Look around you the next time you are at a concert and it will be a sea of phones in all directions.
And if you wanted to see a video recorded by someone else, they’d either have to bring it round to show you - or you’d switch on ITV’s You’ve Been Framed and get a mighty surprise. But in the 2020s, if you open your Facebook or Instagram account it probably won’t take more than a scroll or two to find what our grandparents would have called “home movies”. One such genre of videos posted to social media is the “internet challenge”, often harmless bits of fun occasionally raising money for charity.
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