Kids Are Short-Circuiting Their School-Issued Chromebooks For TikTok Clout (arstechnica.com) 78
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Schools across the US are warning parents about an Internet trend that has students purposefully trying to damage their school-issued Chromebooks so that they start smoking or catch fire. Various school districts, including some in Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Washington, have sent letters to parents warning about the trend that's largely taken off on TikTok. Per reports from school districts and videos that Ars Technica has reviewed online, the so-called Chromebook Challenge includes students sticking things into Chromebook ports to short-circuit the system. Students are using various easily accessible items to do this, including writing utensils, paper clips, gum wrappers, and pushpins.
The Chromebook challenge has caused chaos for US schools, leading to laptop fires that have forced school evacuations, early dismissals, and the summoning of first responders. Schools are also warning that damage to school property can result in disciplinary action and, in some states, legal action. In Plainville, Connecticut, a middle schooler allegedly "intentionally stuck scissors into a laptop, causing smoke to emit from it," Superintendent Brian Reas told local news station WFSB. The incident reportedly led to one student going to the hospital due to smoke inhalation and is suspected to be connected to the viral trend. "Although the investigation is ongoing, the student involved will be referred to juvenile court to face criminal charges," Reas said. TikTok recently banned the search term "Chromebook Challenge" and created a safety message that pops up when searching for the term. The social media company notes that the challenge is on other social media platforms, too.
The Chromebook challenge has caused chaos for US schools, leading to laptop fires that have forced school evacuations, early dismissals, and the summoning of first responders. Schools are also warning that damage to school property can result in disciplinary action and, in some states, legal action. In Plainville, Connecticut, a middle schooler allegedly "intentionally stuck scissors into a laptop, causing smoke to emit from it," Superintendent Brian Reas told local news station WFSB. The incident reportedly led to one student going to the hospital due to smoke inhalation and is suspected to be connected to the viral trend. "Although the investigation is ongoing, the student involved will be referred to juvenile court to face criminal charges," Reas said. TikTok recently banned the search term "Chromebook Challenge" and created a safety message that pops up when searching for the term. The social media company notes that the challenge is on other social media platforms, too.
Juvenile charges? (Score:5)
That seems a bit draconian. Back in my day, you'd be expected to pay for any loaned school property that you lost or intentionally damaged. Seems like a major oversight if they've just been handing out Chromebooks willy-nilly without having parents sign something that they'd be on the hook for a replacement if their kid breaks it on purpose.
This isn't to say there shouldn't be consequences, but "you break it, you bought it" seems to be a more level-headed form of punishment at the school level, and let the parents handle their own discipline at home for their kid following some stupid online fad that ended in having to pay to replace a Chromebook.
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At one time I would have agreed with you but today's parents are different. Schools are having enough trouble getting paid the lunch money owed by the parents. Think how much harder it would be to get them to reimburse schools for the destroyed chromebooks.
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There's plenty of ways to collect a debt: liens, collections, wage garnishment. Ultimately, parents are responsible for their kids so this would seem reasonable. Things get a bit more iffy when you're talking about situations where the debt wasn't incurred due to a willfully malicious act, such as in the case of a student being simply too poor to afford lunch.
I'm fine with taxpayers having to eat the cost of feeding a poor kid. Not so much, though, when it comes to replacing a Chromebook that was destroy
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Why do they even need the chromebook ?
I don't think it's for the benefit of the kids and it opens up the families to a liability that I never had growing up with a pen and paper
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> You can easily fill out some paperwork to get reduced/free school meals. Sounds like you live somewhere better than the Dumbfuck Klanshit Red States like Tex-Ass, Lousyanna, AllaInbredda, or Florida-America's-Eternally-Flaccid-Wang.
Re: Juvenile charges? (Score:3)
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Any school that charges lunch money would be a school in a third world country, if even that.
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if they did the the parents can refuse and they couldn't make them mandatory.
Can't we just round up all the stupid kids and put them in a special school for stupid kids whose parents don't want them to learn?
Re: Juvenile charges? (Score:2)
Do I get a slap on the wrist for playing with matches?
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Do I get a slap on the wrist for playing with matches?
Depends on what you burned and where you burned it. When I went to school, if you took your issued school book home and burned it in your backyard, you'd be on the hook for replacing it and nothing more. If you set fire to the book while you were in class, you'd obviously have gotten in a hell of a lot more trouble.
I guess the devil is in the details.
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As I said above, when Mom and Dad get the bill, there will be consequences for the kid. I'm sure if the kid caused a fire at the school and mom got THAT bill, there would be more than a slap on the wrist coming.
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I still remember having to buy book covers for my school-issued textbooks, as it was made quite clear that a student was responsible for any damage when the book was turned back in at the end of the term. For poorer (or simply more frugal) students, the teachers usually also provided instructions on how paper grocery bags could be repurposed into book covers.
We've definitely taken a wrong turn somewhere if we've been issuing Chromebooks to kids and hoping that everything just magically works out in the end
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usually also provided instructions on how paper grocery bags could be repurposed into book covers.
We only got the instructions how to make one. But how many grocery store bags are made out of paper these days? You might as well teach them to make them out of newspaper.
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Anywhere that's banned plastic bags have seen the return of paper shopping bags alongside the reusable ones.
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When I was in school, the local ice cream chain gave out free book covers. All the cool kids had them.
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In Houston long ago, local businesses handed out book covers with advertising. One such was Spring Branch Bank. This one was popular because it could be folded or pasted over, to read "pig ranch ban".
A couple of days ago, a guy who was in Catholic schools in San Francisco in the 60s, said that at the end of the semester, they were required to erase any marks, and (strangely, and assuming that I heard correctly) to sandpaper the edges of the bound pages.
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and (strangely, and assuming that I heard correctly) to sandpaper the edges of the bound pages.
I have no personal experience of doing that, but I have drawn things on the edges of the pages when the book was closed...
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In the case of school books, kids are especially prone to h
Re:Juvenile charges? (Score:4, Insightful)
Given how over-priced text books are these days, I wouldn't be surprised if the issued books cost more than the chromebook.
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Juvenile charges? .. seems a bit draconian. Back in my day, you'd be expected to pay for any loaned school property that you lost or intentionally damaged.
The challenge is going to be many kids won't have the money, and their parents don't necessarily have money to cover these Chromebooks either. My suggestion is kids physically damaging property in their care be given in-school suspension and required to complete 20 hours menial labor. And be given a 30 day timeout before a replacement Chromebook can
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I'm sure when Mom and Dad get the bill, they'll make sure there are consequences. There's no need for a judge to get involved for that.
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That seems a bit draconian. Back in my day, you'd be expected to pay for any loaned school property that you lost or intentionally damaged. Seems like a major oversight if they've just been handing out Chromebooks willy-nilly without having parents sign something that they'd be on the hook for a replacement if their kid breaks it on purpose.
This isn't to say there shouldn't be consequences, but "you break it, you bought it" seems to be a more level-headed form of punishment at the school level, and let the parents handle their own discipline at home for their kid following some stupid online fad that ended in having to pay to replace a Chromebook.
When the hardware vendor is far more well-known for turning YOU into The Product, cost becomes as irrelevant as privacy.
Lets remember why you don’t pay Google in money to use their services.
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That seems a bit draconian.
The specific incident indicates it was done at school and generated enough smoke to send another student to the hospital for smoke inhalation. That's a good bit more serious than just damaging the laptop and may be in the same category as assault. So Juvenile Court may be appropriate.
missed opportunities (Score:5, Insightful)
SHOULD have pointed them to 'suzyqable' adapters on ebay, and mrchromebox.
Then we'd have kids posting fun videos of chromebooks playing videogames instead.
But alas, we get to point out that 'maybe its not smart to skimp on short isolation circuitry on the usb port', and that 'maybe regulations are needed' instead.
The message nobody in power wants to have!
What a shame.
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SHOULD have pointed them to 'suzyqable' adapters on ebay, and mrchromebox.
Then we'd have kids posting fun videos of chromebooks playing videogames instead.
But alas, we get to point out that 'maybe its not smart to skimp on short isolation circuitry on the usb port', and that 'maybe regulations are needed' instead.
The message nobody in power wants to have!
What a shame.
The cost of a “standard” circuit breaker has probably tripled in the last couple of decades. Not due to mere inflation, but due to the over engineering that is required because we stupid humans seem to think building the better idiot is the way of the future.
Instead of attempting to make a computer idiot proof how about we take the computers away from the fucking idiots instead. Act like a moron, get treated like one. Plain and simple.
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china wins when that happens as you need buy an ne (Score:1)
china wins when that happens as you need buy an new one from china
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Can't wait to see who this next generation manages to install into the Whitehouse.
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Mike Judge and Etan Cohen are actually time travelers that wrote Idiocracy as a warning. They failed.
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Sure beats eating tide pods.
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if they do this with no protection what will an US (Score:3)
if they do this with no protection what will an USB killer do to them?
New viral challenge: kill yourself on a livestream (Score:1)
Points awarded for creativity.
Points deducted for making a mess someone else has to clean up.
Have at it lads. Bring up our average IQ.
So obviously... (Score:5, Funny)
... the answer is to replace them with iPads, right? /s
What ports? (Score:5, Informative)
I can only assume this is typical sloppy tech reporting and it is actually vent slots and battery bays they are tampering with, not ports.
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Nope. It's the USB ports. RTFA is alive and well.
If you push something in far enough, you can puncture the battery.
"“Today we received notice from three neighboring school districts about an ongoing TikTok trend influencing students to force electrical short circuits on Chromebook devices by inserting items such as paper clips, pencil graphite, pushpins, folded metallic gum wrappers, aluminum foil, etc. into the USB port. This action can spark or puncture the lithium battery in the device and poses a
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If you can puncture the battery with a gum wrapper then the parent is right, they are defective.
But fear not. This is critical training the kids need in order to overthrow their robotic overloads after the AI uprising.
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I can only assume this is typical sloppy tech reporting and it is actually vent slots and battery bays they are tampering with, not ports.
You act as if this is better. Messing with lithium-charged battery bays?
What exactly is the point in giving a computer to a disrespectful moron again? Because taking the problem device OUT of their hands sounds like a far better solution until they grow the hell up and learn to respect property. Give ‘em a damn pencil until they do.
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I guess my beef was the implication that ports, such as USB, can easily cause fires which is pretty much impossible by design. There was only one video in the supplied links that showed smoke, but that was not from the laptop, it was from the graphite of a pencil act
Most likely the stupid kids (Score:2)
Smart kids who want to learn don't destroy their tools
So get rid of them. (Score:2)
How are students going to practice their cursive writing if they are using Chromebooks? Student issued technology is a waste of money any way.
I understand that the way it works (Score:2)
Welcome to the wonderful world of moral panics. A handful of kids do something dumb and suddenly it's the most important widespread dangerous thing in the world and we all have to stop whatever we're doing and talk about it and watch videos about it and engage about it and above all keep looking at advertisements and keep being scared.
You would think after hundreds if not thousands of years of moral panics we would fucki
Someone needs to tell Google ... (Score:2)
And the people who signed off the Chromebook for production without a fuse in its power supply need to be jailed for "Reckless endangerment".
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Schools tend to by the absolute bottom of the barrel Chromebook models where the vendor cut every single corner there was to cut and then some, to get the price down as low as it can possibly go. If there is one thing public schools don't have, it's spare money.
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That's basically the issue in a nutshell. In an ideal world, laptops intended for use by schoolchildren would be designed with an extra-tough housing and no ports that can be easily shorted out. Heck, even the dockless scooter rental companies figured out fairly quickly that if you don't use a vandalism resistant design, you'll end up with cut brake lines and slashed tires.
Thing is, a Chromebook designed like that probably wouldn't sell well outside of the education market, so the manufacturer wouldn't be
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I am wondereing whether there is more to it, i.e. true incompetence. I was under the impression you could, for example, not even use the USB logo unless you have current limiters on USB ports. I have seen them being present in cheap $20 wireless routers that had an USB port. Is this some other data port that does not require current limiters?
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About $0.45 actually.
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Indeed. In particular as all standards pretty much require current limiting on current carrying data ports. Apparently, the hardware designers at Google are just cheap fucks.
Dumb kids (Score:2)
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Some people are fucking stupid (Score:2)
And apparently these kids in particular do not seem to want an education and have no appreciation of the value of things. Failed parenting that productes a future class of losers.
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I disagree. Simpler hardware migh have done it as well (tablets), but Internet access is a very significant advantage in education.
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Internet access is a very significant advantage in education
Only once the student has learned the basics, before that it is just a distraction. If the teachers are that lazy or incapable to teach without internet, then that's on the teacher and your school administration.
Once you have the fundamentals, internet access is great for self educating by having the internet answer the questions for you - it can even write an essay. Of course back in the day that used to be called cheating, but all you really cheat is yourself. Teachers that still care can't do anything
Fuses? (Score:2)
There's a simple time-tested fix (Score:4, Insightful)
Dead tree books, dead tree notebooks, and pencils. These worked for a century, and they also do not enable porn or cheating or video games.
Somebody is making a huge pile of money putting laptop computers into the hands of the urchins, and making more money providing the replacements when the urchins destroy them. Paper books were cheaper and offered kids no distractions. Nobody needs a computer for K-12 education; What we need is to have kids reading, writing, and doing math at grade-level. Post K-12, any well-educated adult can learn all the computing skills they need on their own.
TikTok response (Score:2)
> TikTok recently banned the search term "Chromebook Challenge" [...]
Sure, because TikTok is the only search application.
> The social media company notes that the challenge is on other social media platforms, too.
There's this thing called the Internet ...
Require assignments on paper (Score:3)