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U.S.|Students Are Short-Circuiting Their Chromebooks for a Social Media Challenge
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/us/tiktok-trend-school-laptops-fire.html
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Some students have been suspended and even criminally charged, as some of the computers catch fire or damage the surroundings.
May 14, 2025Updated 1:43 p.m. ET
Across the country, students are short-circuiting their laptops at school in a new and sometimes dangerous social media trend.
The “Chromebook challenge” involves students jamming objects into their laptops until they spark and smolder. Students then record the smoking laptops and share the footage on TikTok and Instagram, sometimes set to music, as viewers react with heart and thumbs-up emojis.
It’s not just the expensive computers that get damaged: Floors and desks are scorched. Lessons are interrupted. Classrooms are evacuated. Fire and police departments are summoned. And some students have been suspended or even faced criminal charges, as schools work to stop the trend.
Here’s what to know.
How does it work?
The “Chromebook challenge” involves using objects such as push pins, staples, paper clips, metallic gum wrappers and graphite, found in pencil lead. They are inserted into USB or charging ports, under keyboard keys, or near the batteries to deliberately short-circuit the devices.
Sometimes the batteries are smashed to facilitate the reaction. Students from elementary through high school have been reported doing it.
“Unfortunately, we have seen instances of this dangerous behavior occurring in schools across our district,” Michael J. Testani, the superintendent of schools in Fairfield, Conn., said in a letter to families.
