Erik’s Cause
MEET
Erik Robinson
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Children deserve honest information about the risks they may encounter online. Adults deserve resources that help them guide, protect, and communicate effectively with young people.
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Our programs are skills-based, non-graphic, evidence-informed, and age-appropriate. They empower children to make safe decisions and equip adults to have meaningful, supportive conversations.
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Erik’s Cause engages in awareness-building by sharing advocacy links and partnering with aligned organizations working to highlight online harms and social media challenge risks. They support broader efforts to influence policy, elevate public understanding, and spur safer digital environments for kids. This work connects community, education, and policy levels around online safety.
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LINK TO VICTIM MAP
Turning our Tragedy into Action
to Fight Online Harms
INTERACTIVE MAP OF
“PASSOUT CHALLENGE” VICTIMS
Learn about victims in your area and across the globe that have been lost to dangerous pass-out challenges.
WHAT WE OFFER
16 YEARS LATER, OUR RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
We focus on targeted risk prevention that builds on general digital safety and literacy—helping kids and the adults who protect them keep pace with rapidly evolving online harms.
Our offerings include Navigating Online Harms: Knowledge Is Power® for students; Is Our Digital World Destroying Health & Families? for parents and professionals; and a host of online-harm prevention resources for families, schools, and communities.
Prevention alone isn’t enough. We partner with organizations across the country to advocate for meaningful legislative and policy changes designed to better protect children in the digital world.
Real risks. Practical skills. Prevention—and advocacy—that evolve as the digital world changes.
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Navigating Online Harms: Knowledge is Power® is a skills-based classroom module that helps students recognize and understand the real risks of viral online challenges and other digital harms. It builds critical thinking, strengthens refusal and peer-pressure resistance skills, and supports healthier decision-making. Fully scripted, adaptable to health and digital wellness curricula, and free of charge.
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Complementing the student program, our parent workshop —Is Our Digital World Destroying Health & Families?— gives caregivers insight into online risks, warning signs, and practical strategies for talking with their children. This session strengthens home-school communication around sensitive topics like social media influence, while reinforcing student learning and expanding the parent toolkit for safer digital decision-making.
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Erik’s Cause builds awareness by sharing advocacy resources and partnering with aligned organizations to highlight online harms and the risks of dangerous social media challenges. This work supports broader efforts to influence policy, raise public understanding, and create safer digital environments for kids—connecting community, education, and advocacy around online safety.
Visit our resource hub to learn more. -
In addition to our program modules, we provide downloadable resources—including research, fact sheets, and educational guides—for educators, families, and young people.
These materials strengthen awareness of online risk behaviors and offer practical tools for prevention and early intervention.
Our resource hub also connects users to other organizations working to keep kids safe online.
WHY I FIGHT
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I lost my only child to something kids believed was safe. Now I work to make sure other families don’t.
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Erik was a bright 6th Grader.. An “A” student, Boy Scout, and athlete. At just 11 years old, he was already corresponding with the United States Military Academy (West Point) to ensure he would meet their physical requirements.
He had plans.
He had direction.
He was fully engaged in life. -
One day he was fine. Later that day, he wasn’t.
He was resuscitated and placed on life support. That evening, detectives told us this wasn’t a suicide… it was something called the “choking game.”
We didn’t believe them.
He was too smart to do something like that. -
The next day, when it was confirmed Erik had no remaining brain activity, we let him go.
At the time, we publicly called it a “tragic accident.” Because we truly believed that Erik would never intentionally do something so dangerous.
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Within days, a student broke the kids’ “code of silence”
Erik had been seen at school with another boy—showing each other how to choke themselves and each other.
Soon after, I discovered there were thousands of videos online—under many different names—showing kids how to do this.
They said:
it was safe
it was fun
not to listen to parents
and dared others to try
As the years have passed, more and more videos have flourished over ALL platforms.
November 2022, Bloomberg News: TikTok Viral Challenges Keep Luring Young Kids to their Deaths
September 2021, Fox News: Her son died from a 'choking game,' now she's determined to save other kids' lives
March 2018, TIME Magazine: The Dangers of the 'Choking Game' to get High. Instead They're Dying
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Whether Erik saw it online—or learned it from another child—we may never know.
But the reality is clear: Kids were doing this. And they didn’t know it could kill them.
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These deaths are often misclassified. A suicide and an accidental death from this activity can look the same physically. Without deeper investigation, cases are frequently labeled as suicide—and closed.
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I lost my only child to something kids believed was harmless.
Now I focus on:
awareness
education
prevention
Because this is preventable.
START THE CONVERSATION
THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
JOIN THE FIGHT
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You don’t have to be an expert to make a difference. Every conversation, every shared resource, every school presentation, and every parent who speaks up matters. Whether you choose to educate, advocate, volunteer, donate, support legislation, or simply start conversations in your own community, your voice can help protect children and support families.
There is no single way to help. We welcome people wherever they are, however they feel comfortable joining the effort to create a safer digital world for children.
To learn more about ways to get involved, visit our Advocacy, Educational Programs, and Support Our Work pages.
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Growing research, legal action, advocacy efforts, whistleblower testimony, and public awareness are shining a brighter light on online harms, dangerous challenges, addictive design, and youth mental health. Families, educators, researchers, lawmakers, and former tech insiders are increasingly speaking out and demanding change.
Stay informed about emerging research, legislation, advocacy efforts, media coverage, and the evolving digital risks facing children and families today.
To stay updated on advocacy efforts, legislation, and current issues, visit our Advocacy, Research & Evidence, and Learning Hub pages.
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What began as one family’s tragedy has become part of a much larger global conversation. Families around the world are facing many of the same online risks, pressures, and platform-driven harms.
Through education, awareness, advocacy, and open conversations, we can work together to create safer digital spaces and a healthier future for children everywhere.
To learn more about our outreach, awareness efforts, and ongoing work, visit our Annual Impact Reports, Media & Awareness, and Resource Hub pages.
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Meaningful change happens when people come together. We are grateful to work alongside survivor families, educators, researchers, advocacy organizations, medical professionals, community leaders, and others who share a common goal: protecting children and strengthening families in the digital age.
Together, our collective voices help drive awareness, education, prevention, and change.
To learn more about the organizations and individuals helping advance this work, visit our Advocacy Groups and Resource Hub pages.