‘This trend has the potential to end in absolute tragedy': The new social media challenge that has authorities issuing stark warnings

Independent

10 hours ago

A new social media trend is sweeping across the country - and officials are fearful it will end in tragedy.
The 'door-kick challenge' takes the 'ding-dong-ditch' prank —ringing people's doorbells and running away before they answer—to new extremes. Pranksters choose a door at random in the middle of the night and kick it aggressively, sometimes until it comes off the hinges, and upload a video of it online.
'That's a good way to end up dead,' Florida's Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood bluntly put it. 'Especially in Florida. You've got to think you're about to become a victim of a home invasion robbery and, under the Castle doctrine, you're gonna shoot first and ask questions later.'
Online safety advocacy groups also warn that kids could lose their lives over the social media trend or end up in jail.
'This trend has the potential to end in absolute tragedy,' Titania Jordan, chief parenting officer at Bark Technologies, a parental control app, told The Independent. 'We're not just talking about property damage — kids are putting themselves at serious risk. If homeowners are armed or on high alert, it's not hard to imagine how a prank like this could escalate into something irreversible.'
'What's at stake is more than just a viral moment gone wrong,' Jordan adds. 'It's a child's life, a family's future, and the potential for criminal charges that could follow them for years.'
Authorities are warning parents about the dangerous 'door kick challenge' as recent incidents have cropped up in California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, Texas and Michigan, to name a few. Marc Berkman, CEO of the Organization for Social Media Safety, said that social media has 'conditioned' American teens to re-enact dangerous challenges and pranks.
'Social media incentivizes users, especially teens, to post content that will generate likes, shares, and views, or 'clout' as some may call it,' Berkman told The Independent.
'Unfortunately, what generates that social media attention is often salacious content: violent, explicit or otherwise extreme. Our teens, spending upwards of five hours a day viewing this content, quickly become desensitized to it, and violence, cruel pranks, and challenges become normalized.'
Police in Louisville, Kentucky, said that the prank was 'stupid and dangerous' following an incident in the city over the weekend.
A woman caught masked teens kicking down her door at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Wave reports.
'Anyone participating in this type of behavior is certainly risking their own life,' said Louisville Metro Police Department spokesperson John Bradley. 'A resident could easily assume resorting to deadly force against the person is the next appropriate course of action to protect themselves from what they believe may be an intruder. This type of behavior is stupid and dangerous.'
In Las Vegas earlier this month, homeowner Tyler Reggie and his pregnant girlfriend were asleep when pranksters kicked the door in at 3 a.m. on July 8.
Reggie told FOX5 that he 'assumed the worst' when the banging started, but saw it was teenagers after reviewing his doorbell camera footage. They caused $5,000 worth of damage to his property, he said.
In Florida, two teenagers are facing a charge of felony burglary after taking part in the challenge in the city of DeBary, Volusia County.
The teens kicked a homeowner's door in so aggressively that it broke open. 'The so-called 'door kicking challenge' is a surefire way to get locked up with a felony… or even worse, shot and killed by a homeowner,' Sheriff Chitwood said in a social media post on July 7.
The teens told deputies they were 'just being stupid.' One of them, a 13-year-old girl, was found hiding in her attic after deputies searched for her inside the house.
'And, let me tell you, mom was furious with her daughter after deputies told her what she had been up to,' Chitwood said. 'Parents, use this as a reminder to TALK with your kids that this challenge is not harmless and is the dumbest way to end up with a felony charge or dead.'
Similar social media trends have met a tragic end in recent years. Teenage lacrosse star Michael Bosworth Jr was allegedly shot dead by a homeowner in May during an alleged break-in, but his friend told police it was a TikTok 'ding-dong-ditch' prank gone wrong.
Tyler Chase Butler, 27, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the 18-year-old's death, who was fatally shot in the torso in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
Butler is being held in Rappahannock Regional Jail until a preliminary hearing in September. His family said he 'acted out of a genuine fear for his safety and the safety of his mother.'
In another devastating case in Riverside County, California, Anurag Chandra killed three teenage boys after they played a doorbell prank on him in 2020.
The group of six teenagers pranked Chandra before running back to their vehicle. Chandra then got in his car and intentionally rammed the teenagers' vehicle off the road, killing three of them, authorities said.
Parenting expert Jordan noted that similar pranks have been around for decades, but social media has elevated them.
'Pranks like ding dong ditch have always existed, but social media has given them a megaphone,' Jordan said. 'What used to be a local stunt can now go viral in seconds. Even if kids aren't sharing their own videos, just seeing others do it on repeat can make it feel normalized or even encouraged.'
Kids may take part in the challenges due to peer pressure, the simple thrill of doing something they shouldn't, or more likely, for social validation, Jordan said.
'Even if they're not filming themselves in the act, just being part of a trend gives them a sense of belonging,' Jordan explained. ' It's easy to forget how impulsive kids can be when they're trying to impress their peers or prove they're not afraid to push boundaries.'
Jordan recommends parents have regular conversations with their kids, not just about what they're posting but what they're watching online. 'Ask what trends are showing up in their feeds and how they feel about them,' she said.
'This kind of open dialogue is your best defense,' Jordan added. 'At the same time, it can be helpful to use tech tools that give parents a window into their child's digital world.'