It is not hard to spot trends that are going viral. Nowadays, challenges are everywhere. Videos of people eating ‘ghost peppers’ are on almost every social networking site, as if we want to watch people eat one of the hottest peppers existing? Well, according to the Internet, we do.

As ‘so last year’ as it is, the ‘ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’ was the first viral trend that actually made people think; is this really a good way to raise awareness? It is a question with numerous different answers.

Stefan Lovic (10), stated that the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a good [idea] because they were smart enough to get [celebrities] into it,” He then went on to mention that in just one year, the ‘ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’ raised over $100 million.

Hanna White (12), had the complete opposite opinion to Stefan. She stated that the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ was drawing attention away from what the disease is. Once people saw that the challenge was getting more popular, they decided to join in. It was no longer raising awareness; it just became about “following the viral trends”.

No matter what, there will be no conclusion as to whether or not the ‘Ice bucket challenge’ was raising awareness or following the trend. What we do know, is that the challenge did collect a massive amount of money that went towards that charity. According to the ‘ALS Association’ one American dies every ninety minutes, from ALS. Sadly, there is no cure for ALS yet, but the money raised is going towards research, medicine, and hopefully, one day, there will be a way to cure the disease.

Another challenge that went viral this summer was quite ridiculous: this being the ‘Don’t Judge Challenge’. This challenge has caused a large amount of controversy, with some people being for, and some against it. Ocion Carter (11) was in favor of the don’t judge challenge, sharing that he “[thinks] the people [who] get angry over it are just overreacting and looking way too [deeply] into it. People don’t do it to intentionally make fun of people with pimples. It’s just something fun.”

The challenge consists of people drawing ‘flaws’ on their faces with makeup, including big eyebrows, acne and glasses…  because, you know glasses are horrible, right?

This challenge says so anyway.

They were primarily making fun of the natural things that come with growing up, claiming that if you have these flaws then you are not beautiful. The title of the challenge really contradicts with what the challenge actually is.

Recently there has been a big surge of people standing up against body shaming, people saying that everyone is beautiful for who they are, but the ‘Don’t Judge Challenge’ is telling people that they have to change what they look like. That you have to have flawless skin and perfect eyesight to not be judged, it might just be me, but that’s ignorant and obnoxious.

The ‘Don’t Judge Challenge’ was a campaign to put an end to the people who choose to judge others, but it has been done in the complete wrong way.

Next time people try to make a stand against body shaming, they should think it through a bit more, rather than insulting people who aren’t flawless, instead of contradicting the name of the challenge, as opposed to doing something ignorant.

The ‘Don’t Judge Challenge’ should be people standing in front of the camera unashamed of who they are. The ‘Don’t Judge Challenge’ should be real people with real flaws accepting and welcoming who they are.

If you have acne, if you have glasses, if you have big eyebrows, then embrace that, it is part of life and it is part of you, it is nothing to be ashamed of.

The real challenge in life should not be trying not to judge someone else.

The real challenge should be trying not to judge yourself.

Lily G