Kids Find New Way to Be Dumb With ‘Eraser Challenge’

(iStock / eyecatcher23; Instagram / @eyecatcher23)

When I had kids, I made a list of all the dangers I needed to warn them about. Don’t talk to strangers, never play with matches, and look both ways before you cross the street. Apparently, I also now need to teach them that erasers are only for paper, because there’s a stupid internet craze that challenges kids to rub an eraser on their skin while having to do or say something. You’re probably thinking, “But…friction…wouldn’t that…burn?” YEAH. IT DOES.

The eraser challenge is nothing new (I have a 35-year-old friend with an eraser scar), but it’s found another life thanks to social media. East Iredell Middle School in Statesville, North Carolina, posted a warning about the challenge on their Facebook page. “Parents! Do your children have any burn marks? The latest internet challenge is the “Eraser Challenge.” Kids are rubbing an eraser across their skin while having to do or say something. It’s causing serious burns and we’ve seen several cases of this at EIMS.”

This is some next-level stupidity. Not only do kids end up with incredibly painful burn marks on their skin (which, you know, leave a scar), but one California teenager was hospitalized in 2015 after contracting Strep A Toxic Shock from using a dirty eraser to participate in this stupid game.

And because this isn’t dumb enough, kids often post videos or pictures of themselves taking the challenge on social media. They’re doing it for the likes! And of course, there’s lots of in-person comparing of eraser wounds, because nothing says, “I think I’m a bad-ass but actually I’m a total idiot” like having the biggest eraser burn in your class.

So parents, talk to your kids about how incredibly ludicrous the eraser challenge is. Can you imagine being on a college or job interview and having to explain the four-inch eraser burn scar on your forearm? Dumb dumb dumb.