As the Blue Whale game has caught imagination of kids menacingly, it is time some guidelines are followed by parents and teachers, alike, to prevent further damage
Divyansh Dev
The Blue Whale challenge is an internet-based game. It is named on the occasional bleaching and later death of blue whales on the shores. The game begins when participants are assigned tasks by a game-controller. Each participant is given the limited time of 50 days to complete each task. Tasks completed need to be proved to the controller by uploading the photograph of its completion. The ultimate task after the culmination of various stages of this game is suicide. There is hardly any scope of stopping in between, as the participants of this game are threatened through blackmailing and cyber-bullying to ensure its completion.
Today, this fatal internet game has become a phenomenon as in just two weeks, nearly 10 teenagers have died in India alone.
UNICEF Guidelines 1. Make sure that your child has access to age appropriate online sites which do not promote unethical How teachers can help 1. Teachers need to keep an eye on falling grades and social behavior of the students. |
The game has become a menace because it is not easily detectable. The various tasks within the game include: slice a whale-shaped in your hand with a blade, cut your lip, poke your hand with a needle, cut your arm with a razor, and the final one is jumping off a high rise building to commit suicide.
Harsimran Kaur from Psychology Department, University of Delhi says, “it is the fragile self-esteem which gets a kick by completing the tasks. As a teenager with high adrenaline rush self-esteem and morale can be affected due to various factors like peers and family and even schooling.
Lucija Fusi? from Croatia, who is an expert in child psychology and working at Child Helpline International—in a special conversation with Organiser says that “children especially adolescents at first have this urge to do something forbidden in order to feel more grown up, and more special. The game allows them to explore the “dark side” of them and to show some retaliation towards the social norms. The game, with all its tasks, nicely packaged gives a sense of being unbeatable. Ultimately when things get out of hand in this game; they often feel ashamed—self-respect goes down, and then they might feel that the death is a better solution.
Asmita Punia from Delhi School of Economics says, Blue whale game gives teenagers a sense of belonging to some group, they feel special that they are the chosen ones as the game is not accessible to all openly.
Now, since the game has come under the scanner it is now operationalising under various names such as ‘ocean of whales’ ‘home alone’ etc.
