The Blue Whale Challenge is no child’s play

Close on the heels of the worrisome news that Hyderabad’s school kids have easy access to drugs, comes an online phenomenon that’s giving parents sleepless nights. We’re talking about the dreadful Blue Whale Challenge — an online game which involves a series of 50 bizarre tasks, including self-injury, and eventually suicide at the end of day 50! Shockingly, this ‘fad’ is actually finding takers among young, impressionable teenagers, and has reportedly claimed two lives in India — that of a class 9 student in Mumbai last month and a class 10 student in Bengal (who had told his friends and parents that he was hooked to the game) on Saturday.The casualty list stands at close to 130 in Russia, where the game originated, alone. The Blue Whale Challenge has been linked to few more recent teen suicides attempts, though no concrete links between any of those incidents have been confirmed. Quite a few children in the 10-14 age group have been ‘rescued’, as per reports, just before completing the final task of the notorious challenge — jumping to death.
Fortunately, while no such cases have been reported in Hyderabad yet, parents and every responsible citizen ought to be aware of this challenge to watch out for tell-tale signs in kids before it’s too late. Because the challenge takes off in closed groups, and may not be obvious unless one is alert, one cannot afford to take this phenomenon lightly.
Who’s falling prey?
Sample some of these messages: “Hello there, I really want to end the life with a fun game, tired of life, tired from love, tired from being ignored. I really don’t want to live. Please curators, let me start this, I need instructions (sic)”; “I am… the fat friend, the ugly sister, the dumb classmate, the second choice, the depressed girl, the hated child, the bitch, the ugly duckling, the girl that will never be good enough. How do I start the blue whale suicide game (sic).”
If you log in to VKontakte and search for #bluewhale, you will come across similar depressing messages from teens desperately wanting to play the game and end their “miserable” lives. Hyderabad-based psychologist Dr Padma Palvai explains, “Teenagers in general are more vulnerable to anything that has elements of danger in it. Typically, kids who are drawn to Blue Whale Challenge have low self-esteem, self-confidence and are extremely insecure. They don’t think highly of themselves. Thus, they tend to rely on others for approval. These kids have a serious psychological issue.”
Into the minds of ‘blue whales’
Who would want to drive young, impressionable teenagers to suicide? And for what? Well, mental health experts believe there are a whole lot of them out there, and they have their reasons. Before being held for inciting 16 school girls in Russia to commit suicide, creator of the Blue Whale Challenge, 22-year-old Philipp Budeikin had been quoted in an interview, saying the game is designed to cleanse the society of ‘weak’ people; he believed he’s actually doing the society a whole lot of good.
Explaining the psychology behind Budeikin’s alarming notions, Hyderabad based psychiatrist, Dr Naresh Vadlamani says, “People who have this kind of personality must have had some inadequacies in their childhood — they might have been abused which is why they hate themselves. In psychological and Freudian terms, we call it displacement or ego’s defence mechanism. The person feels that he is not worth living, but he wants to displace these feelings onto others. In doing so, he feels that those who are weak-minded have no right to live in this world. Inflicting self-harm is not acceptable to the self, so he is displacing the inner feeling to the outside by saying that he is doing that for larger good.”
Dr Palvai attributes it to a combination of “many different things”. “It’s not always the parents or the peers who are to blame. It can also be a biological vulnerability — a family history of anxiety or depression. If not that, the circumstances can also be held responsible. It’s multi factorial and very complicated. At times, it’s the urge of inclusion that drives one to take up such challenges,” she adds.
It’s not easy to fight the blue whale menace
There is still so much unknown about the challenge that its very existence is being treated as an assumption by some. Secret conversations are held on private groups and parents, teachers and peers may not realise that one is part of the challenge until the final stage is reached — suicide. You can’t do an online search of the challenge or find it on social media to figure exactly how it works.
Plus, once in, it’s tough to find a way out — gaming experts assume that those who agree to play the game compromise the security of their system, allowing the admin to steal personal data that can later be used to blackmail or manipulate them into playing till the end. The game gives players new challenges to tackle daily. Players have to complete the task and share a photograph with the game operator as proof, failing which they get threats. The challenges range from waking up at 4.20 am and watching horror movies, to cutting shapes into their skin, listening to psychedelic music, etc, with the final challenge being jumping off a high building. Once downloaded, the game cannot be deleted.
So, how to challenge the challenge
Parents, teachers and peers must keep an eye out for strange/suspicious activity in their kids. Look out for the numbers 57 and/or 40, a whale carved on their hands. Check for cuts on their hands. Keep an eye open for #i_am_whale searches on social media. The challenge, which exploits teens’ need for approval and acceptance, can be overpowered by love and support, and of course, awareness. “There is no way to protect a child from every threat. But if parents and elders have an open dialogue with their children about the potential dangers in the world from a very young age instead of taking punitive action, such mishaps can be prevented. Always let them know that despite all their mistakes, they will always be loved. If they feel secure, they are likely to confide in you with what is happening in their lives. These days, parents have a busy life, but they have to be available for their kids. If your kids have suicidal feelings, get help from a psychologist. It won’t be an easy conversation, but it may be life-saving,” suggests Dr Palvai.