Children and teenagers are increasingly becoming involved in harmful—and even deadly—games. Some of these include drinking hand sanitizer, “smoking” crushed Smarties candies, and using body spray as a flamethrower.

One trend that is gaining popularity is “vodka eyeballing.” An article produced by GreatSchools reported, “Afraid to be caught with the smell of alcohol on their breath, many kids have taken up the vodka eyeballing trend. Instead of throwing back a shot, teens hold the bottle to their eye and pour the liquid directly into the eye, which is laden with blood vessels.”

The educational organization described how “the alcohol is quickly absorbed through the mucous membrane and enters the bloodstream immediately through the veins at the back of the eye. Eyeballing may yield a quick buzz without the bad breath but there can be extreme consequences: Because most vodkas are between 40 and 50 percent alcohol, it can scar and burn the cornea, and even cause blindness.”

Other popular forms of entertainment such as “the choking game” have grave repercussions.

“This deadly ‘game’ involves cutting off the oxygen supply to the brain through strangulation for a brief high,” WebMD stated. “Some teens have done this using their hands or a noose either alone or in groups.

“‘There’s no room for a learning curve,’ Alfred Sacchetti, chief of emergency medicine at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, N.J., says, ‘because the very first time, you can die.’”

“Flash mobs” are another dangerous trend.

CBS New York reported: “In New York and across the country, the mobs of kids—20, 30, 40 or more—appear out of nowhere and suddenly charge a newsstand or convenience store…they ransack, steal and wreak havoc with no consideration for customers…who get in their way.”

In Philadelphia, “…these so-called flash mobs have taken a more aggressive and raucous turn…as hundreds of teenagers have been converging downtown for a ritual that is part bullying, part running of the bulls: sprinting down the block, the teenagers sometimes pause to brawl with one another, assault pedestrians or vandalize property,” The New York Times stated.

“In the past year, at least four of the flash mobs have broken out in the city, including one…in which roving teenagers broke into fights, several onlookers were injured and at least three people were arrested.”