Sandra Bullock's new Netflix film Bird Box is very popular. It's breaking records as over 45 million subscribers tuned in to watch the original flick in its opening week. Unfortunately, some viewers are doing more than just pressing play. One unexpected result of the movie is the new #BirdBox challenge.
The plot of Bird Box is pretty dark. In it, Sandra Bullock's character has to protect her two children from a mysterious monster that convinces people to kill themselves if they look at it. So, Bullock instructs her kids to keep their blindfolds on tightly, even when they have to navigate their way across a river.
Now, in real life, people have taken it upon themselves to put on blindfolds while doing their daily activities and asking friends to film the results. Those activities ranged from innocuous ones like putting on makeup, to very dangerous ones like driving. Others were filmed running, walking, going down the stairs, etc. with their blindfolds on. Case in point:
#Birdbox? ? Challenge ! ??pic.twitter.com/TDbgBmyKH4
— A D A M (@Adamiington) January 3, 2019
One YouTuber even tried it for a full day because that's smart.
Netflix found itself in the awkward position of urging its users to be careful if they feel compelled to blindfold themselves.Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. We don’t know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.
— Netflix US (@netflix) January 2, 2019
This latest viral challenge comes after similarly misguided dares like the Tide Pod challenge, in which people ate laundry detergent pods, the Hot Coil challenge, which required participants to see how long they could leave their arm on a red hot coil on the stove, or the "In My Feelings" challenge, in which young adults jumped out of cars to dance.
Shall I keep going?