The Numbers Are Bad — and Getting Worse

Five teenagers were treated for Benadryl overdoses at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego in a single week leading up to Memorial Day weekend, according to CBS8. The patients were between 16 and their early 20s.

Doctors say it's part of a national pattern.

"We have seen an uptick in cases of kids who have been overdosing on Benadryl, and this goes in line with the national uptick we've seen, especially in Texas, Ohio, and Virginia," Dr. Shahfar Khan of Rady Children's Hospital told CBS8.

A November 2025 national analysis from legal advocacy firm Bader Scott put a harder number on it: challenge-related injuries have doubled since 2020, tightly tracking with increased screen time. The report, titled The Viral Injury Epidemic: How Social Media is Fuelling ER Visits, found that 95% of U.S. teens have smartphone access and three in four use video-sharing platforms daily.

Twenty deaths among preteens and young teens have been tied to the Blackout Challenge — a self-asphyxiation dare that's been floating around TikTok for years. The Tide Pod trend produced 143 intentional poisonings in a single month. A separate study from the Omega Law Group found more than 100 deaths and tens of thousands of ER visits tied to viral challenges.

Benadryl: The Deadliest Trap

Benadryl — diphenhydramine — is sitting in your medicine cabinet right now. It's an over-the-counter antihistamine for allergies. It costs five dollars. And the dose required to make a teenager hallucinate is the same dose that can cause cardiac arrest.

"The dose required to induce hallucinations is also the same dose that can cause cardiac arrest and respiratory arrest," Dr. Khan told CBS8. Overdoses can also trigger seizures, dangerous heart arrhythmias, and stopped breathing. In extreme cases, treatment requires defibrillation.

Families see Benadryl as harmless because they've used it for years. At challenge doses, it is not.

Couch Surfing Almost Killed a 16-Year-Old

Levi Teemant, a student at Timpview High School in Utah, was initially skeptical of the "couch surfing" trend — a stunt that involves towing a couch behind a vehicle while someone rides on it as the driver swerves and accelerates.

His mother, Amy Teemant, told KSL he told her he was proud he hadn't done it.

Then on May 8, he saw his friends do it and walk away fine. He figured it was OK.

"The first time he makes that choice, he sits on that couch, and the couch leg breaks, and he goes flying," Amy told KSL.

Levi suffered a fractured skull, traumatic brain injury, spinal fractures, broken ribs, and facial fractures. He was placed in an induced coma at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. Amy said she didn't see him blink or move for more than 12 days.

Doctors told Amy this was the third couch surfing injury they'd seen at that hospital in 2025 alone.

TikTok has placed warnings on table surfing searches — a nearly identical stunt — but videos of both trends are "more readily available on Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube," according to KSL's reporting. The platform warning has limited reach.

Fire and Exploding Toys

West Hartford Deputy Fire Marshal Chris Wilcox told WFSB that fire-related social media trends — including teenagers blowing alcohol over flames to "breathe fire" — contribute to 300 deaths and $300 million in property damage nationally every year.

Separately, kids are microwaving NeeDoh stress toys despite explicit warnings on the packaging not to do so. In Chicago last month, a 9-year-old was severely burned when a microwaved NeeDoh exploded. Consumer Reports formally asked the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to investigate in March 2025. The toy's parent company, Schylling, says it has notified the CPSC and is working with social media platforms to remove videos showing the misuse.

West Hartford firefighter and paramedic David Holmes told WFSB: "Burns can be fatal. They can also leave permanent damage that everyone will be able to see, and not to mention emotionally they're going to be living with their decisions for their entire life."

The Bill Parents Don't See Coming

Insurance companies are denying claims from challenge-related injuries, categorizing them as avoidable acts.

According to the Omega Law Group study cited by NBC affiliate WWBT, parents are facing medical bills of $80,000 to $100,000 out of pocket when their kids end up in the ICU after a viral stunt.

Online safety consultant Marcy Thornhill told WWBT: "You're looking at young people doing flips and then they're becoming quadriplegic or they're having brain damage. Insurance companies are not going to pay for the medical bills."

These cases are happening now.

What's Actually Being Left Out

Most coverage frames this as a TikTok problem. It's bigger than that.

TikTok gets the headline, but the couch surfing videos spreading in Utah are on Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. The Benadryl challenge circulates across every platform. Blaming one app lets the rest off the hook — and lets Congress dodge the harder question of whether Section 230 liability shields for platforms that algorithmically amplify content that sends kids to the hospital should continue to exist.

The platforms profit from engagement. Dangerous content drives engagement. That's the business model.

What Parents Can Actually Do

Marcy Thornhill recommends showing kids the outcomes of viral stunts. Scott Applebaum, a Wethersfield parent and high school staffer, told WFSB his approach is simple — talk to your kids directly and often.

Know what's in your medicine cabinet. Lock up flammable liquids. Understand that your kid's friends doing it safely once means nothing about what happens the second time.

Amy Teemant said it best from her son's hospital room: "This is one more thing to talk to your kids about."

Talk now — or talk to the billing department later.