Internet. The one thing that can either make you or break you depending on how you use it. It will be fine if you are just another person in this world that likes to visit your favorite websites and check out some YouTube videos you find entertaining, but if you are more than that, then there is a fairly good chance that you have encountered at least one of the things you are going to read about in this article.

Ranging from how a serious disease can turn into a joke for mindless people all the way to harming yourself in order to become famous on the Internet. Of course, I am talking about all those trends that have been ruling the world especially in the second decade of the 21^st century.

So, join us today as we take a look at 15 of the dumbest things to ever appear on the Internet. Keep in mind that some were too harsh or revealing, so I couldn’t include them in this article.

15. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

What started as a way to raise awareness and get people into donating money towards research on one of the most deadly diseases in our world quickly managed to turn into a humorless joke. Pour ice cold water all over yourself and then donate some money to the cause.

However, the majority of participants didn’t do the latter and the challenge quickly evolved into “Ice Bucket” without the ALS in front of it. Mindless kids all over the Internet took  part in something that started as a good thing and turned it into an idiotic trend. Charlie Sheen tried doing the challenge but instead of ice cold water, he poured 10,000$ over himself which he proceeded to donate to the cause. Congratulations to him!

14. Fidget Spinners

Once again, something that started as a means to help some people turned out to be a trend. Not necessarily bad, but somewhat stupid of course. Don’t get me wrong, I myself have two fidget spinners (one of them was a gift) and I had my fun with them. But I never used them to promote my YouTube channel or do anything to help me make money using them.

I clearly state that because the majority of YouTube users included them in videos as well as thumbnails and titles as clickbait in order to get more clicks and make money. ADHD is a mental disorder and this little gadget was created to help them. It would be okay if you use it for fun, but don’t try to make money out of it. I have OCD (which has nothing to do with ADHD) but still loved this little creation.

13. The mannequin challenge

So, just like the name suggests, the mannequin challenge consisted of a bunch of people trying to stay still while being recorded by a camera, just like real life mannequins. This trend blasted through the Internet as YouTube and Facebook were the first two platforms to be victims of it. Quickly all other social media sites were filled with videos of this kind.

Even football and basketball teams did it and let me say it was simply amazing how still everyone would be and not move even in the slightest, allowing for an excellent performance to be recorded. However, just like most other trends, there wasn’t a cause behind it. Just a mindless temporary thing everybody liked to do.

12. The Knife Game

Have you ever watched Alien? Well, in the second film of the franchise, the android in the crew is asked to play the knife game with one of the new members. He places his palm on the other person’s and starts to play the game by quickly pushing the knife between each finger.

It is a dangerous game and inspired by the movie, it became popular especially over the Internet as people have even created a little song that accompanies the creepy game. You may have heard it. It goes something like this: “I’ve got all my fingers and I go chop chop chop…” and the tune goes on and on while trying not to butcher your hand.

11. Pokémon Go

What started as a simple mobile game quickly turned into a deadly experience for many kids and adults as well. Connected to your smartphone or tablet’s GPS, the application will show you the map of your location and where you can possibly capture different Pokémon.

Some people took it too far and started going into strange people’s properties or restricted areas and as a result, some got attacked by guard dogs or other people. The outcome was brutal as many of those people lost their lives. Some were trying to run after a fleeing Pokémon and got ran over by cars or other vehicles.

The worst part? Niantic, the company that created that app, is icreating another similar game – this time dedicated to the J.K. Rowling creation Harry Potter.

10. Charlie Charlie Challenge

Supposedly, if you write the words “Yes” and “No” in a diagonal matter divided by a cross and thus making 4 different smaller regions, you will be good to go and summon the demon named Charlie. However, you do need to balance two pencils on top of each other and put them exactly on the cross you drew.

Start by saying “Charlie, Charlie, are you here?”. Charlie will move the pencil to point to his answer. Even though this game is probably fake, it still remains a type of paranormal activity such as the Ouija board and should be considered dangerous. So instead of being one of the fools on YouTube who make videos about it, just stay away from that trend.

9. Harlem Shake

You can’t have missed this foolish trend as the number of videos uploaded dedicated to it was too damn high. Even my school made a Harlem Shake video. In fact, it got so big that the original video reached 1 billion views 40 days after its release.

4,000 videos per day were uploaded which is equal to one video every 21.6 seconds! What started as an opening theme in a video quickly turned into a worldwide phenomenon or better referred to as an Internet Meme. Teenagers dancing (if that can be even considered dancing) to the tune of Harlem Shake is one of the dumbest things to ever appear on the Internet.

8. 1,000 Degree Knife

Want to see something incredibly dumb and (for some reason) entertaining at the same time? Then just go to YouTube and search “1000 degree knife”. The result? Thousands of videos featuring a knife supposedly heated all the way to 1,000 degrees. Why was this fake? First of all, we don’t even know what the initial uploader meant. Was it measured in Fahrenheit or Celsius?

In any case, if that number was even remotely realistic, the items it touched would slice immediately without having to go through the process again and again. Nothing more to say here other than you shouldn’t try it at home. It is as dangerous as it is dumb.

7. Salt and Ice challenge

What better way to harm yourself and make money out of it than the salt and ice challenge? Just pour some salt over your arm and then continuously push an ice cube over it. After that, let the YouTube views shower you, right? Wrong, most people didn’t know what happens until that Internet trend came to life.

Why do you think we pour salt over the frozen roads in the winter? Because the chemical reaction between the two will melt it. But in this case, there isn’t any road, only your skin which will get burned. So don’t even think to try this dumb trend yourself. And don’t get me going on the boiling water challenge. God, people can be so damn stupid sometimes.

6. Clear Glasses

Until some years ago, the two top social networking sites were Facebook and Twitter. But Instagram joined the game and along with itcame some of the most idiotic fashion statements that we have ever seen.

One of the worst ones is, of course, the huge clear glasses that everyone seems to like wearing so damn much. As a person with myopia, it triggers me so hard to see people with perfectly fine vision wear such things just because the trend says to do so. In my personal opinion, it is one of the worst things a person can wear, not because they look bad, but simply due to the fact that the whole purpose of wearing such glasses is defeated.

5. Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge

Are you tired of looking at the same old face every morning when you look in the mirror? Do you want your lips to look just like Kylie’s? If your answer was “yes” then the only thing you’d have to do is to take a shot glass, put it on your lips and start sucking. In no time, your lips will look like a beautiful duck!

Jokes aside, besides you looking like a dummy for a couple of days until the swelling goes away, how did anyone find this stupid trend to be something good? It is one of the dumbest things to ever appear on the Internet, and you can easily understand I am right judging by the fact that by the fact that no one does it anymore.

4. Harambe

It is nice to raise awareness for an animal being killed in vain but in no way should it be considered okay for it to become a laughing matter. It wasn’t the gorilla’s fault that some irresponsible parents left their small child unattended and he fell in the animal’s area.

I understand that he had to be put down in order for the child to be safely retrieved by the security team but why did the Internet have to turn this unfortunate event into a joke? Guess we will never know what we are going to see next on our screens.

3. Blue Whale Game

The name of this creepy game may have the word “blue” in it but the result can only be something red and that would be the blood of its poor victims. This disturbing experience consisted of a 50-day long process where the player would be assigned a specific daily task and on the last day, you would win the game if you killed yourself.

Needless to say that this led to tons of suicides worldwide and it is for sure one of the reasons small kids shouldn’t be allowed too much freedom while browsing the Internet on their own.

2. Dabbing

I am sure that I am going to get a lot of hate for saying that but dabbing has to be one of the dumbest things to ever appear, not only on the Internet, but in all of mankind’s history. Don’t get me wrong, I may humorously dab from time to time myself but only when I am kidding around with my friends.

Just like the “watch me whip, now watch me nae nae” little skit, the act of dabbing started as a dance pose and now it has evolved to being performed by millions of people around the globe every day. I am very positive that even at the time I am writing and you are reading this, someone in the world is dabbing right now.

1. Don’t Judge Challenge

Want to see one of the most hideous and stupid things at the same time? Go to YouTube and search for don’t judge. The result will be millions of videos filled with dumb, arrogant teenagers who think they are beautiful and show it by first presenting themselves as ugly by using makeup and then revealing their “perfect” nature.

Like, seriously!? What is the point of this whole thing? Personally, I thought that the “Don’t judge a book by its cover” phrase was referring to the personality of a person and not just his/her looks. This defeats the whole purpose of that saying. It was only a means for idiots to show how good they look, or at least how good they think they look.