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. ----- 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. ------- 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 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism