Bird Box is a new Sandra Bullock movie, distributed by Netflix which you can find on the streaming platform right now. It’s an enjoyable take on the end of the world zombie trope that has been passé for longer than I have been around to document it.

In the film, people are forced to live out their days blind, as death comes to all those who see the virus or the thing that has arrived to destroy the species. Spoiler… there never is an explanation as to what it is, or why it’s here, but you know, that’s a minor plot quibble.

So it was, of course, only a matter of time before some bright spark landed on the idea of the Bird Box Challenge – a stupendously silly and irresponsible idea, where the object is to film yourself performing everyday tasks while blindfolded. It’s mostly harmless stuff like walking around the house and banging into your sofa, but then there are people driving cars or walking on top of buildings to balance things out at the crazy end of the scale.

Netflix even had to take to Twitter on the second day of 2019:

Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. 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.

I can’t believe they had to say it either.

Fortunately there have been no recorded deaths as a result of this idiocy, but it’s only a matter of time. On second thoughts, I say fortunately, but perhaps these are exactly the kind of people the world could do with culling.

Natural selection and all that.