Another year, another ridiculous challenge, eh?
2019's very first crazy offering is the Bird Box challenge: where people are tasked with doing everyday things with a blindfold on.
Sounds kind of funny, right? Not if you ask Netflix!
The streaming service has put out a stern warning on social media, begging fans of the film to not hurt themselves doing the challenge.
"Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE," the person who runs Netflix's official Twitter account wrote. "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."
The acclaimed film follows a woman, played by Sandra Bullock, who, along with two children dubbed Boy and Girl, must make it through a forest and river blindfolded to avoid supernatural entities which cause people who see them to die by suicide.
After the movie began streaming on Netflix on December 21, 2018, fans decided the cinematic experience wasn't enough and began uploading videos of themselves blindfolded to Twitter.
While the challenges amused people on social media, it's not difficult to see why Netflix are concerned about people hurting themselves; numerous videos online show people walking into doors or walls and it could be only a matter of time before someone seriously injures themselves.
One video even shows a man seemingly attempting the controversial challenge as he drives a car along a road. In the footage, rather than blindfold himself, the unidentified male pulls his hat over his eyes, something that caused people online to take to the comment section to express their outrage.
"Even if it was for two seconds, this shouldn't have happened. Don't endanger people's lives for fun," one wrote.
After Netflix released their warning, people turned to Twitter to express disbelief that this caution had to be issued in the first place.
"Netflix having to send out a warning for people not to get hurt following the orders of memes is a terrifying way to start 2019," wrote one person, while another simply put: "What is wrong with people?"
They were joined by another Twitter user who commented saying: "You can never really be too disappointed with humanity, it will always find a way to disappoint you further".
A week after the film began streaming on Netflix, the entertainment giant reported that Bird Box had the biggest seven-day viewership of any of its original films to date, with over 45 million viewers altogether (views defined by the company as people streaming the film for over 70 per cent of its length).
The movie is available on Netflix now - but remember, don't try it at home, kids.
