LAKE ASBURY — In a world where 5.56 billion people are on the internet, anything can happen. 

Both good and bad.

What can sometimes be a place of harmless entertainment and connection can also be a danger zone, especially for youth. 

And what lies behind the screen is a sinister reality.

This is something the parents of Lake Asbury Junior High School student Landon Donovan said they wished they had known before it was too late.

“You could be like us and be parents that came home, and I found my son not okay,” Landon's mother Kristine Donovan said. “And nothing I could do to save him.” 

On March 25, the 14-year-old died while following a social media trend he witnessed while on an online platform. His parents said their son’s accidental death is a tragic reminder of the risks that online media can present to children. 

In recent years, a string of viral, and sometimes deadly, social media trends have riddled the internet, encouraging users to participate in risky tasks, record them and hit post.

Popular ones include the “Benadryl Challenge,” wherein users consume large doses of antihistamines to hallucinate and the “Fire Challenge,” in which teens light themselves on fire, trying to put it out before getting burned.

Additionally, there’s the “NyQuil Chicken Challenge,” in which users cook chicken in the over-the-counter cold medicine, the “Outlet Challenge,” wherein a person places a cell-phone charger into an electrical outlet then drops a penny between the prongs, and the “Blackout Challenge,” whereupon users are encouraged to asphyxiate themselves in order to temporarily lose consciousness.

Gaining popularity through social media apps such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, these trends have found their way particularly into the lives of young children. 

According to the National Library of Medicine, up to 95% of children aged 13 to 17 use a social media platform, with a third saying they use it almost constantly. 

YouTube ranks as the most used among the young demographic, followed by TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

"The greatest risk, right now, to our youth is the internet,” said Clay County Sheriff's Office Detective Ryan Ellis. “That’s more than childhood obesity, guns [and] drugs. The internet is a vessel for people that are willing to exploit children.” 

Like a vicious rabbit hole of unhealthy consumption, Ellis said the internet’s virality makes it easy for dangerous and inappropriate content to get into the wrong people's hands.

The facade makes it easy for vulnerable children to want to participate. 

“The scary part about it is, once one or two people do it and it gets shared,” he said. “And then another person shares it and then it becomes a viral thing, right. So, that you now have kids that look at this as fun.”

Kristine and Carlton William (C.W.) Donovan said that finding out their son had been a victim came as a shock. He had only just gotten a cell phone.  

Being aware of the potential dangers of the internet, Kristine and C.W. said they were always strict on what their children had access to. 

“His computer and his devices [weren’t] a babysitter. We limited screen time and stuff like that [but] maybe we didn’t go behind him and look at everything he did on that screen. Maybe that’s where we messed up. I don't know.”

So, in what ways can parents be aware of what their child is doing online?

The Donovans said they have some advice to help parents.

Kristine said there are many apps that parents can use to monitor their child’s online activities, including Bark, Qustodio, Norton Family, Net Nanny and Life360. 

Additionally, she said having open conversations with your child is also important. 

“Just talking to their kids and saying, ‘Hey, are you guys doing this?’, ‘Do you guys know about this?’, ‘Have you seen this?’’ she said. 

Kristine said asking children to open up or talk about something may be difficult –something she said sometimes happened with Landon – but never stop trying. 

“You can’t just assume that, ‘All right, let’s just back up and recalculate things,’ she said. “No, try harder.” 

Ellis said having real-world conversations with your child can make a significant difference. 

“I think that the big key is honing in on having those real-world conversations with kids and also realizing that good kids make bad decisions,” he said. “I’ve heard so many parents say not my kid. My kid wouldn't do that, my kid's smart, my kid is in a good home, they live in a good neighborhood. These challenges and the dangers of [the] internet, it doesn't know color, it doesn't know social economic statuses. 

"It doesn’t know the neighborhood that you live in, and it does not discriminate when it comes to exploiting children.”

The Donovans said they will never stop advocating for what happened to their son. 

On Facebook, Kristine and C.W. said they have created their Long Live Landon Donovan page to spread awareness of online safety, as well as mental health and bullying – things with which Landon dealt. 

Currently, the page has a growing following, amassing a number of parents and adults who are invested in learning more about Landon’s story.

“That was the scariest part. There was nothing I could do to save him,” Kristine said. “And that’s what hurts the most as a mom and as parents, and as a dad. Nobody should feel the pain that we’re going through right now."

Landon’s parents said he was kind, loving, smart and everything they could’ve asked for in a son. They just wish they had more time.

C.W. said he always told Landon that as his father, his job was to put the tools in his toolbox. As a son, Landon was to learn how to use them. 

They said they want to share that same sentiment with parents when it comes to online safety, so they don’t end up in the same situation.

 “Landon used to tell me I was the strictest mom ever,” Kristine said. “What I wouldn’t give to hear that one more time.“