Earlier this month, multiple students at Ida B. Wells High School, inspired by a trend from TikTok called the #Chromebookchallenge or #Chromebokdurabilitytest, made their Chromebook batteries smoke and eventually explode in the restroom and outside the school in a field.
This trend is reminiscent of the “devious licks” trend circulating the internet a few years ago. The #Chromebookchallenge includes students taking the graphite from their mechanical pencils and putting it into the ports of their Chromebook, making it smoke, which can lead the Chromebook battery to explode if the graphite is left for long enough.
Most recently at IBW, there have been two incidents of students following this trend. In early May, a student made a Chromebook smoke, and eventually exploded in the boys’ bathroom, leaving a black mark behind. In addition, another student followed the #Chromebookchallenge in the field near IBW, making a Chromebook smoke as well. Luckily, nobody was injured, however, there was an announcement the following day warning of suspension if anybody were to try and recreate these acts.
This creates many problems for everyone in the school, as an exploding chromebook battery can create a lot of danger. Along with the inherent danger of setting fire to a Chromebook, the smoke that is made from this is toxic to breathe in, and the flame created is difficult to put out, needing much more water than other types of flames.
This type of destruction in schools has been going on for years now, often inspired by trends shared and spread across TikTok, called devious licks. Many kids would later show off the exploits of their rampage around the school, stealing projectors, soap dispensers, or even bathroom doors on TikTok.
The start of “pranks” like this was a sense of rebellion many get from “tagging” the school by slapping a marker to the wall and writing a chosen pseudonym. On multiple occasions a year at IBW, the boys’ bathrooms have been locked when vandalism and damage were at a height.
Some of the scars from devious licks still show today with how often soap containers are missing, letting one or two remain in the bathroom at a time. A majority of these destructive bathroom behaviors are limited to the boys’ bathroom. Schools face many problems from these trends as they have to buy replacements for damaged property with their already stretched budget.
In fact, across the country, there have been multiple evacuations related to the #Chromebookchallenge. For instance, at the Jefferson-Morgan school district in Pennsylvania, a student made their Chromebook start to smoke and made the entire school evacuate. Firefighters were called to the scene, but no one was injured.
With the popularity of TikTok spreading these kinds of dangerous trends faster than ever, more may arise in the future.
