Social media challenge landing people in the hospital

FAYETTEVILLE, Ar. -- Concerns over a dangerous social media challenge is landing people in the hospital.

It brings up the question: Why do people take participate in trends where they can hurt themselves or someone else?

The "Skull Breaker Challenge" involves three people standing side by side and jumping.

The two on the outside kick the legs out from the person in the middle, sending them tumbling down.

There have been reports of people hurting their heads and getting concussions.

Joshua Upshaw with the Department of Psychological Science at the University of Arkansas says people participate in these types of challenges to get views, likes and validation from friends.

He says these challenges are popular with adolescents whose brains are still developing.

"They have situations in which their hormones are fluctuating quite a bit, so you are going to have a high degree of impulsively, you are going to have a high degree of seeking peer approval, acceptance, and a high degree of perhaps rebelliousness," Upshaw said.

Tik Tok, a popular social media platform, released a statement saying safety is a top priority.

It says content that encourages dangerous challenges violates its community guidelines.

It plans to continue to remove that type of content from its platform.