Less than 1 week into 2025 and we already have our annual ration of kids doing dumb internet pranks.
What began as a joke in a now-deleted video from a tech influencer about cell towers has taken the nation’s teens by storm.
Dubbed the “lightning scar challenge,” this absurd trend encourages participants to wield giant 12-foot-long metal rods in the middle of the worst thunderstorms they can find, all in the name of getting what is called a “Zeus scar,” which closely resembles the bolt they were struck with.
TikTok, the world’s largest social media platform, has already banned hundreds of accounts for encouraging people to do this trend, but that hasn’t stopped influencers from posting on Instagram Reels. There are estimated to be 3,000 Instagram accounts dedicated to encouraging people to participate by using deepfakes of celebrities like Taylor Swift, LeBron James, and Michael Jackson.
The results of this trend have been as expected—bad. Over three dozen people have already been hospitalized with a survival rate of 30%.
Parents and educators are scrambling to prevent further spread of this trend. Schools and parents have stopped letting their children outside and taking away their phones during high-risk weather.
We spoke to social media zeitgeist expert and mom of three Angela McBride about this trend, and she had this to say: “It’s all very Tide Pods-y. Social media encourages people to gain clout by doing dangerous content. I personally don’t let my kids use phones—and you shouldn’t either. These platforms just encourage people to die for fake points.”
There are unconfirmed reports of people trying to increase their odds of being struck by licking batteries and swallowing various acids.
One unnamed user, a recent graduate of Veterinary Medicine, posted a video 13 hours before his death announcement. In a weak voice he said, “I incurred the wrath of Zeus. The gods are displeased.”
As of January 4, 2025, 26 people have died.
