Over the past few years, the internet has seen its share of creativity. This creativity is shown through a series of challenges, which involve an individual or a group of people doing something interesting or entertaining.
Things such as the running man challenge and the cinnamon challenge are activities that can be done individually, but there is a new trend on the Internet called the mannequin challenge.
“The challenge is normally done with a group of people and everyone has to choose a pose and stay still, just like a mannequin, while someone videotapes. The common song in the background is ‘Black Beatles’ by Rae Sremmurd,” said twelfth-grader Canyon Regan.
Since it is an activity that involves a group, many have collaborated with each other, making it a challenge that involves making memories and having fun.
“I don’t know if the challenge brings my friends and me closer, as we are already very close to each other. However, doing it lets us have fun and can attribute to a great time,” said Regan.
Twelfth-Grader Devin Chambers also said, “There have definitely been a lot of challenges that my friends and I have tried to do throughout the years that have made long-lasting memories.”
The success of these challenges can be attributed to one thing and one thing only: social media.
The success of internet challenges relies heavily on platforms such as Twitter or Facebook.
“Without social media, I think challenges would still exist, but they would be less popular and take a lot longer to catch on because once it is on, it spreads like wildfire. If people have nowhere to post their videos, then it kind of spreads by word of mouth or by people showing the video to their friends in person,” explained twelfth-grader Adrienne Chin.
When easy access to the internet is combined with celebrity participants such as Beyoncé and LeBron James, who have each done the challenge, the sky is the limit in terms of positive growth through collaborative efforts such as the mannequin challenge.
“As long as the challenge does not involve breaking the law or violence, then I most definitely think challenges have a positive impact on society because it creates something people come together to attempt and laugh about,” said Regan.
