What Is The 48-Hour Challenge? Teens Are Going Missing On Purpose

The newest social media challenge that’s sweeping through groups of teens and their friends isn’t exactly harmless. The 48-hour challenge requires those participating to disappear for 48 hours without telling their families. If that wasn't bad enough, every mention the “missing” person gets on a social media platform increases their score in the game. Those participating also get more points the longer they manage to go unfound by friends or family.

The social media component makes the challenge especially frustrating and anxiety inducing for parents or friends who try to use Facebook or other social media to raise attention about their child or friend's disappearance. The teens are disappearing either alone or in pairs or small groups.

One mother of a child who had participated in the challenge and been later found perfectly ok told BelfastLive about her experience. She called the anxiety it caused the family “unspeakable.” Her child was missing for 55 hours before they were found, BelfastLive reported. “I was terrified they were dead or would be raped, trafficked or killed. But these kids just think it’s funny. There was not even a moment of remorse when my child was taken into police custody and when the police brought my child home, I could see posts of selfies from the police car,” the woman said.

The Sun reported that so far the game has been mostly popular among teens in Northern Ireland but that some adults were worried the game might spread if it gained popularity.

The challenge is apparently modeled after a similar one that was popular in parts of Europe a few years ago. The game was called 72, or the 72-hour game and it encouraged children to disappear for hours at a time without their parents finding them, however that game didn’t have the social media component.

Other dangerous challenges have been sweeping the internet for years. There was the cinnamon challenge which was simply a challenge of whether participants could handle eating a whole spoon of cinnamon. This challenge posed health risks because of the coughing and choking it caused. This was similar to the challenge that required participants holding ice with salt on it, but this challenge posed the risk of burns.

There is also one called the “Blue whale challenge” that is far more involved than any of the others. It involved game masters and required multiple days and eventually asks participants to kill themselves. Earlier this spring authorities were warning parents about the challenge that was making its way around the internet at the time.