Return of The Blue Whale Challenge
By Sumit Paul, New Age
Islam
7 August
2024
Mr Ghulam
Ghaus Siddiqi Saheb wrote a very thought-stirring piece for NAI a year ago. It
was about the addictive and rampant use of
cellphones
among the people of all age groups, esp. among the youngsters.
The
"Blue Whale challenge" was reported to be an online "suicide
game" aimed at teenagers which set 50 tasks over 50 days. The challenge
was alleged to be linked to numerous deaths around the world. But little about
the "game" was quite as it seemed.
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Readers
might be aware that a 15-yr-old boy from a very affluent family in Poona jumped
off the 14th floor and committed suicide as the culmination of Blue Whale
online game that was first reported in 2017. The incident has shaken parents
and youngsters alike in Poona and the whole country.
En passant,
the 'Blue Whale' challenge is a peer group game that's played via a Russian
social networking site called "V Kontakte"- which is similar to
Facebook. It typically involves a series
of tasks or dares assigned to players by a curator over 50 days. The first
tasks could include challenges such as "Wake up in the middle of the
night" or "watch a scary film."
It's banned
in India, yet accessed by desperate youngsters suffering from a morbid
'death-wish.' While it may sound bizarre and incredible to all those who still
have a semblance of sense and sanity, it's fascinatingly addictive to the self-destructive
youth of today for whom discipline is an alien word. They're on a killing
spree.
To quote an
Urdu poet Zia Hoshangabadi, "Ye
Aalam Hai Ke Kisi Aur Ka Qatl Na Kar Pao Toh / Ye Jo Khanjar Hai Use Apne Hi
Seene Mein Utaar Do" (If you can't kill a person / Stab yourself and
die). This is happening all over the world, not just in India. Mobile, social
platforms, online gaming and easy access to all potentially dangerous sites
have expedited the widespread decadence.
Parents
have no time for their growing up and vulnerable kids. The boy who died playing
the Blue Whale Challenge has highly educated parents. His dad works abroad.
Can't these 'educated' parents discern the changes in the behaviour of their
offspring? What on earth was this boy's 'educated' mother doing? A mother can
detect even the slightest changes in her child's behaviour. When an adolescent
is behaving in an abnormal manner, it must be a matter of concern for the
parents and elders in the family. Instead, they too remain glued to their
screens. This has become a universal malady that requires counselling and
psychotherapy.
Now more
than the youth, their parents are in need of mobile de-addiction to live like
normal human beings who're mentally sound. Social platforms and gaming have
rendered us unsound and unstable humans. Mobile has become a vortex of our
existence. Danish Daftari aptly says, "Iss
Qadar Girdaab Ban Gaya Hai Ye Chaska-E-Mobile / Jab Tak Dubo Na De Chain Nahin
Lega" (The overwhelming passion for a mobile has become such a
whirlpool / Until it drowns you, it'll not go). So very true.
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in
comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed
articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including
Persian.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/blue-whale-challenge-smartphones-games/d/132880
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