The Blue Whale menace

SIT with a group of children as small as even seven years, and chances are they would have all the information that the little minds have the capacity to imbibe of a game called Blue Whale. They would also be aware that it is a dangerous game, with some among them cautioning, with all the wisdom that they can muster, their younger friends or siblings against playing it. This game has caught the imagination of school-going kids across all sections — from the lower middle class to the rich. After all, the mobile phone has penetrated right down to almost every household. But, children being children, they are drawn to anything called a “game” and involving “play”. They are not equipped to fully fathom the depth of the danger of things inherently lethal or evil. So, though there is no confirmation of the existence of the Blue Whale Challenge, the disquieting spate of more than 100 teenagers recently taking their own lives in an eerily similar fashion in Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Italy, and now India, too, warrants that the adults intervene to block access to “games” that glorify self-infliction of harm and death. 

It is incumbent upon every parent to keep his/her children out of harm’s way. They must monitor their online and social media activity for any signs of unusual reclusiveness or depression; talk to them; take them out to play real games; try to understand them; if required, take them to a psychiatrist. Families must take responsibility, even as the governments must ensure a safe cyber space by making sure that access to such sites is blocked.

There can be no pain for a parent more excruciating than losing one’s child. More so, by suicide. Even greater so, if the child had been seeking medical intervention for his “addiction” to a deadly game. The 16-year-old who took his life in Panchkula recently had indicated that need to his parents, before taking the final plunge. Now, the disconsolate father can only advise: Don’t give a smartphone to a kid before he/she is 20.