This maybe the most alarming social media crazy I've ever heard of.  Michigan State Police are getting in front of it.

The '48 Hour Challenge' game involves a teen purposely going missing for as long as possible in an effort to get social media mentions, likes and shares.  This is disturbing on many levels.

#1 The pain a teen would be putting their family through is simply unimaginable.
#2 Local and Federal resources will be wasted looking for a person who is in no danger.
#3 This could create kidnapping disguised as this game putting more teens in danger.

This "game" for social media attention has already been a problem in the UK.  The trend has now made its way to the U.S.  Michigan State Police are getting out in front of this now according to WILX.com,

"They could see time in the juvenile facility for something like this. We take these things very seriously," said Michigan State Trooper Amy Belanger.  The game potentially leaves law enforcement in a bind, of whether or not a person is truly missing.  "It's very similar to filing a false police report; your claiming that your missing in a roundabout way and then utilizing police resources to look for you and there's charges that could come along with that," Belanger said.

It's hard to not climb onto a soap box about teens needing likes so bad they would create their own local tragedy, but dang!  We thought porn would be the boogie man on the internet.  Social media ego seems to be the real problem.


 

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