Netflix Has to Warn Viewers Not to Hurt Themselves Doing ‘Bird Box’ Challenge

Netflix scored another holiday season hit with the release of Bird Box, the Sandra Bullock horror/thriller that has become a bonafide pop-culture fixation. The premise of the film is that mysterious creatures start showing up around the world, and the very sight of them makes people kill themselves. That forces Sandra Bullock’s character on a mission to save the children under her care by traversing the wilderness to reach a supposed safe zone – all while she and the kids are blindfolded.

The heroic mother-bear efforts by Bullock’s character have inspired a new “Bird Box Challenge” trend, in which viewers attempt to similarly complete tasks or missions while blindfolded. Not surprisingly, this has led to some bad injuries for fans, which has prompted Netflix to drop the following PSA about Bird Box:

“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

As the tweet indicates, this is NOT something that should have to be put into some kind of official warning or PSA, but here we are. While Internet memes or viral trends are often fun (see: the “In My Feelings Challenge”), they can also quickly swing into the realms of the absurd and/or dangerous (see: Ghost Riding, The Tide Pod Challenge, etc…). In some very rare cases, these trends even do something good for the world (“The Ice Bucket Challenge”) – but this Bird Box challenge seems to just be a good way to get yourself hurt:

If people want to try and sharpen their senses to be more like Marvel’s Daredevil, there’s probably a bunch of classes on survival and/or martial arts where it’s safe to practice accomplishing things without use of your sight. Maybe seek those places out?

Bird Box is now streaming on Netflix.