Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington, an 11-year-old boy from the United Kingdom, tragically lost his life after participating in a dangerous social media challenge known as “chroming”.
The incident unfolded at a friend’s house in Lancaster, where Tommie-Lee suffered a suspected cardiac arrest. Despite being rushed to a nearby hospital, he could not be revived, as reported by The Times of London.
Chroming involves inhaling toxic fumes from common household items such as aerosol cans, nail polish remover, paint solvents, and cleaning products. Teens film themselves during this process and share the videos online.
The bereaved family is calling upon social media platforms to implement more stringent safeguards in order to shield children. Tina Burns, Tommie-Lee’s grandmother, has voiced her conviction that social media companies must be held responsible and, in extreme cases, shut down to avert comparable heart-wrenching incidents.
“He died instantly after a sleepover at a friend’s house. The boys had tried the TikTok craze of ‘chroming,'” said the boy’s grandmother, Tina Burns.
“Tommie-Lee went into cardiac arrest immediately and died right there and then. The hospital did everything to try and bring him back, but nothing worked. He was gone.”
“He had a heart of gold, just like his dad. Our family is utterly devastated,” she added.
The surge in popularity of chroming videos on social media has spawned a troubling trend, resulting in multiple teenage fatalities worldwide. Tommie-Lee’s family asserts that social media platforms must adopt more robust safety measures to protect users, and in severe instances, they even advocate for potential shutdowns to avert additional heart-wrenching incidents involving children.
“Both our families are utterly devastated, but we all want the same thing,” Burns said, referring to the family of Tommie-Lee’s friend. “We don’t want any other children to follow TikTok or be on social media.”
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