The sun sets each evening, a routine marvel, but for one family in Leicestershire, it now brings a piercing reminder of what they have lost. Thirteen-year-old Tiegan Jarman loved watching the sunset. She was a girl described as warm, funny, and quirky, with an infectious laugh that could light up a room. In March, that light was extinguished. Tiegan was found unresponsive in her bedroom, her life tragically cut short by participating in a dangerous social media trend known as “chroming.” Her family’s world shattered in an instant, leaving them to navigate a grief that feels endless, and a mission born from unimaginable loss.
Chroming, a term that has gained alarming traction online, refers to the act of inhaling toxic fumes from aerosols or solvents to achieve a brief, dizzying high. Experts clarify it is not a new phenomenon, but a dangerous resurgence of solvent abuse, repackaged and spread through social media platforms. For Tiegan, it involved the misuse of a common household product: a can of deodorant. The accessibility of the materials belies the extreme danger. The chemicals can cause immediate heart failure or suffocation, robbing the brain and body of oxygen with catastrophic speed. A single experiment, a moment of curiosity fueled by online trends, proved fatal.
In the wake of their devastation, Tiegan’s parents, stepfather Rob Hopkin and father Paul Jarman, are channeling their anguish into a crusade for awareness. They speak of a vibrant girl who loved her pets, enjoyed winding up her siblings, and dreamed of becoming an actress or working in a hospital like her mother. Their memories are bright, but they are now shadowed by the haunting question of how such a trend could reach their daughter. They express a complex grief, noting it is hard to direct anger at one individual, but they firmly believe social media companies have a responsibility to better control and limit the spread of life-threatening challenges on their platforms.
The family’s call to action is twofold. Alongside urging tech platforms to take more decisive action, they are advocating for crucial education. Tiegan’s sister, Alisha, has launched a petition calling for the dangers of solvent abuse and lethal social media trends to be included as mandatory learning in schools. Furthermore, they are pushing for consumer products that carry these risks to feature far more prominent, unambiguous warning labels about the fatal consequences of misuse. They argue that if pornography can be regulated online, so too can content that directly leads to children’s deaths.
Tiegan’s story is a profound and painful warning in a digitally connected age. It underscores a terrifying gap between the innocent curiosity of a child and the permanent consequences of a trend glimpsed on a screen. Her family’s plea is not just about chroming; it is a cry for vigilance, for conversation, and for systemic change to protect other young lives. They are determined that Tiegan’s name will not be forgotten, but will instead become a catalyst for awareness, so that other families might be spared their unspeakable pain. Their lives will never be the same, but they hope their loss can make a difference.
