An 11-year-old boy in the United Kingdom is dead after taking part in a dangerous TikTok trend called “chroming.” His family is now calling for the app to be taken down and for children to be banned from social media altogether.
Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington died after suffering from a suspected cardiac arrest in a friend’s Lancaster home on Saturday, the Times of London reported.
“He died instantly after a sleepover at a friend’s house. The boys had tried the TikTok craze ‘chroming,’” Tina Burns, Billington’s grandmother said. “Tommie-Lee went into cardiac arrest immediately and died right there and then. The hospital did everything to try and bring him back but nothing worked. He was gone.”
Chroming is a trend involving huffing fumes from everyday household items such as cleaning products and aerosols. Videos of teens and younger children participating in the fad have been posted on various social media platforms, including Chinese-owned TikTok.
While the action can produce a drunk or high-like state, the fun is short-lived. Chroming, which also goes by the name “huffing,” has led to the deaths of several teens globally.
Australian girl Esra Haynes was just 13 years old when she died after chroming at a sleepover on March 31, 2023, the Sun reported.
An Irish girl was 14 when she died in September 2023, with investigators believing that she fell ill after inhaling aerosol after seeing a TikTok “challenge,” according to the Irish Independent.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement at the time:
Our deepest sympathies are with the family experiencing this tragic loss. Content of this nature is prohibited on our platform and would be removed if found. We will continue to prioritize protecting and supporting our community, working with expert partners and providing safety resources to those who need them.
Burns said her late grandson “had a heart of gold just like his dad.”
“Our family is utterly devastated,” she continued, calling for more safeguards to be put in place.
“We don’t want any other children to follow TikTok or be on social media,” she said, referring to the family of Billington’s friend.
“In fact, we want to get TikTok taken down and no children to be allowed on any social media under 16 years of age. This is breaking us all but we want to help save other children’s lives and give families awareness to keep their children safe.”
Numerous other TikTok trends have led to the deaths of even more teens, including the Benadryl overdose of Ohio 13-year-old Jacob Stevens, Breitbart News reported in April 2023.
More reports have revealed that the app’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-influenced algorithm has pushed suicide in the form of other drug overdoses and choking.
Studies now suggest that TikTok is worsening the youth’s attention spans, a phenomenon known as “TikTok Brain.”
Neuropsychologist Sanam Hafeez told Bustle that “When you scroll and hit upon something that makes you laugh, your brain receives a hit of dopamine,” and “when you see something you don’t like, you can quickly pivot to something that produces more dopamine.”
These shots of dopamine can train young minds to become accustomed to getting short-term satisfaction from damaging content.