Last year's most obvious evidence of natural selection at work was the 'Tide Pod Challenge,' with the dumb, gullible and reckless voluntarily poisoning themselves for a few likes on social media. Well, we are only a couple of days into the new year and 2019's stupidest craze has already arrived, with people walking around, driving and doing everyday things blindfolded to make 'hilarious' videos.
Known as the 'Bird Box Challenge,' it is inspired by Netflix's recent thriller Bird Box, starring Sandra Bullock. Her character and two children are forced to take a perilous journey while blindfolded, in order to avoid some kind of paranormal creature that compels people to commit suicide if they see it.
The movie has been a major success, breaking first-week streaming records with over 45 million views, and has inspired all kinds of memes and recreations. What began as some harmless fun, with people bumping into some furniture blindfolded, escalated quickly as people began to wander about blindly outdoors, sometimes putting themselves and others in danger.
Netflix has responded to the popularity of the challenge, not by encouraging people to refrain from doing it (it's great free publicity after all), but to be careful and try not to get hurt. So there you have it. A streaming service feels the need to remind people not to put themselves in hospital because of memes. Welcome to 2019 guys.
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