A Coumbus, Ohio man, Justin Stevens, is warning parents about a TikTok ‘challenge’ that took the life of his 13-year-old son, Jacob..The ‘Benadryl Challenge’, first seen in 2020, has participants take between 12 and 14 tablets of the over-the-counter antihistamine, more than six times the recommended dose in order to induce a hallucinogenic experience, to impress friends and other TikTok users..The father toldABC 6 WSYX his son was at home last weekend with friends when he overdosed, reports the New York Post, adding footage taken by Jacob’s friends showed him downing the pills, after which his body reportedly started to seize up..“It was too much for his body,” said Justin..Jacob was rushed to hospital and put on a ventilator, but despite best medical efforts over six days, he died on what his father said was the “worst day of his life.”.“No brain scan, there was nothing there,” said the father. “They said we could keep him on the vent, that he could lay there, but he will never open his eyes, he’ll never breathe, smile, walk or talk.”.Jacob’s parents asked that photos of him in the hospital be published to emphasize the danger..His grandmother, Dianna Stevens, fought through tears on WSYX, saying “I’m going to do anything I can to make sure another child doesn’t go through it.”.TikTok reached out after WSYX broke the story, offering condolences to the family, saying it removes content that promotes dangerous behavior to discourage copycats and dangerous challenges are against the app's rules, adding it has 40,000 employees scouring posts every day to remove violations. .The Stevens family questioned how Jacob and his friends got a hold of it?."If it hadn't been for TikTok, maybe he wouldn't have ever seen this challenge," said Dianna Stevens..Justin warns parents about the dangers of teens using social media unsupervised..“Keep an eye at what they’re doing on that phone,” he said. “Talk to them about the situation. I want everyone to know about my son.”.In addition, Justin is urging lawmakers to put age restrictions on over-the-counter pharmaceuticals like Benadryl, a campaign he describes as his “life goal.”.When the BenadryI Challenge came to light in 2020, its manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, put out a public advisory about it, warning: “The Benadryl TikTok trend is extremely concerning, dangerous and should be stopped immediately.”.The Food and Drug administration also put out a public service announcement at the time..“Taking higher than recommended doses of the common over-the-counter allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma or even death,” said the agency. “We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the ‘Benadryl Challenge’ that is encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok.”.Justin Stevens wants TikTok to implement safeguards, including requiring users to provide an ID before creating an account..On March 1 of this year, TikTok issued new features for younger users..“In the coming weeks, every account belonging to a user below age 18 will automatically be set to a 60-minute daily screen time limit,” said Cormac Keenan, head of Trust and Safety, TikTok. “While there's no collectively-endorsed position on the 'right' amount of screen time or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we consulted the current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital in choosing this limit.” .“If the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a pass code in order to continue watching, requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time. For people under 13, the daily screen time limit will also be set to 60 minutes, and a parent or guardian will need to set or enter an existing passcode to enable 30 minutes of additional watch time.”
