A new year, a new challenge and it is as stupid as the ones that came before it. If the Golden Globes gave us #FijiWaterGirl who became 2019’s first meme, the Netflix original Bird Box has people donning blindfolds and wandering about.
The challenge is all about people performing everyday tasks blindfolded for 24 hours at a time. Netflix has issued a warning and asked fans to refrain from following through with the challenge.
Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. We don’t know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.
— Netflix US (@netflix) January 2, 2019
This seems to have fallen on deaf ears – Youtubers George Janko and Jake Paul went so far as to attempt to drive blindfolded.
Many have also commented on how this challenge can negatively affect differently abled people. Disability researcher Arielle Silverman has shown, reports The Guardian, that such “simulations” can strengthen a negative bias against blind people as people partaking in challenges like this can feel that such disability is more debilitating that it is.