Standing in front of my LG washer, I put my dirty whites into the darkness of the machine.

I am about to close the large door to submerge the fabrics in a roller coaster of bubbles and water, but I have forgotten something… a Tide Pod.

My hand grabs the magical packet of detergent.

Its teal, indigo, and white juices entrance my eyes.

Taste buds on my mouth start to moisten as I smell the fresh, clean scent emanating off of the succulent snack.

Slowly but all at once, the Tide Pod creeps up to my salivating mouth.

My teeth are ready to clench down onto its soft plastic shell and the tongue fighting in my mouth breaks out of the cave of my lips.

But something changes.

My hand pauses in front of my sweating face. Voices crowd my mind saying, “Don’t do it!”

I quickly release the Tide Pod into the awaiting clothes and turn on the washer.

Though I was strong enough to let go of the appetizing pod, some are suffering the consequences from their willpower being weaker than their enchanted hands.

“The Tide Pod Challenge” has become a new internet trend: teenagers filming themselves biting into the detergent packets and posting reactions on social media.

A report by a European Commission told The Independent, “Manifestations may include vomiting, abdominal pain, flatulence, and diarrhea.” Tide Pods also contain bleach, which can cause burns in the digestive system.

While the dangers of eating Tide Pods should be obvious with the large “CAUTION” label stating “harmful if swallowed” on the Tide container, individuals are carelessly ingesting the soapy liquid.

Some Internet challenges are innocent such as the “Ice Bucket Challenge” which invited people of all ages to dump a bucket of water and ice on themselves to raise money for ALS. But not this one.

“If inflammation of the esophagus is bad enough, it will narrow the opening, and digestion will be restricted,” reported IFLScience.

There is no point in the challenge. No money is raised, there are no laughs. It is purely idiotic.

The Washington Post stated “nearly 220 teens were reportedly exposed [to Tide Pods], and about 25 percent of those cases were intentional,” according to data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers in 2017.

Yes, internet challenges are tempting. Gaining attention and laughs from doing dumb things in a video is something that intrigues us teens.

But let’s be real, most of them are stupid.

No reaction should be worth ingesting chemicals that can cause such serious issues.

As teens representing the type of people that we will grow up to be, we cannot not fall into these ridiculous games anymore.

Let’s learn from this challenge. Don’t participate in ludicrous trends and most importantly, don’t eat Tide Pods.