Viral online challenges are nothing new.
A few years back, there was something called the "Tide Pod challenge," which led to some young people being taken to the emergency room after consuming the detergent.
Then there was the "Benadryl challenge," which involved ingesting large enough amounts of the antihistamine to experience hallucinations.
And just a few weeks ago, we wrote about the "milk crate challenge." It involved stacking 49 plastic milk crates in a pyramid and climbing to the top. Almost invariably participants ended up falling to the ground.
All were silly, even dangerous. Now another is causing damage to schools around Texas and across the country.
Called the "TikTok bathroom challenge," it encourages students to trash school restrooms. The results range from garbage on the floors to destroyed fixtures and plumbing.
NBC affiliate KXAN in Austin reported Thursday that most of the area's middle schools have seen damage, with some schools forced to close restrooms during much of the school day. Some high schools have been affected, too.
Social media site TikTok is removing challenge videos. But the damage is done.
No doubt this trend will die out as the others have. Still, we have to wonder what possesses people - young or older - to follow such foolishness.
Of course, long before there was an internet, there were fads, such as swallowing goldfish or stuffing as many people into vehicles as humanly possible.
So maybe bad ideas are just part of human nature. That doesn't mean we have to give in to them.