5 Dangerous Online Games That Have Driven Teenagers To Self-Harm And Even Suicide

The Blue Whale Challenge has parents worrying over the safety of their children. Dangerous trends show kids falling prey to online games and challenges that are not only causing grievous harm to them but also claiming their lives.

Children who play these games are often driven to self-injury, suicide, and sharing explicit photos online. Sensibility and intelligence take a backseat; parents need to sit their wards down and talk to them about these horrific online trends.

Parents may think that their children would never participate in these games but sometimes the lure is too strong to ignore. Social pressure takes precedence over what’s rational. A simple trigger can prove disastrous, and even fatal.

1. The Blue Whale Challenge

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A game spread over 50 days, the Blue Whale challenge instructs the participant to complete 50 tasks that include self-harm, watching scary videos, waking at odds hours, etc. ?As the game progresses with each task, the participant reaches the final day that culminates into suicide. The person must prove that they have completed the tasks by sending proof – such as pictures – to their ‘curator’ or the ‘whale’, the one who had been instructing them all this while. The challenge has claimed over 130 deaths so far.

2. The Pass Out Challenge

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Also known as the Choking Game, this challenge gained popularity among teenagers who deliberately began choking themselves to achieve a euphoric high. The game is designed as such where the kids choke themselves to deprive their brain of oxygen to experience euphoria. They would stop just in time and pass out to feel the ‘high’. The game is estimated to have claimed 250 to 1,000 lives every year in the US.

3. The Salt and Ice Challenge

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Teenagers first put salt on their skin and then place ice over it under this challenge. The salt drastically reduces the temperature of the ice to as low as -26 degrees Celcius, causing horrific burns, similar frostbites, to the player. The youngsters who participated often filmed themselves to see how they performed and if they outdid their peers.

4. The Fire Challenge

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In this game, youngsters put themselves on fire, literally! They apply a flammable liquid to their naked torso and set it aflame. A video of the task is recorded and then uploaded on social media. A boy, 15, from New York died due to his injuries after playing this horrendous game. Another boy poured alcohol on his chest, set it on fire, and when asked why he did so, he said he had no idea.

5. The Cutting Challenge

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Directly playing with vulnerable kids, this game makes teenagers cut themselves on purpose, click pictures of the injuries, and upload these online. Deliberate mutilation of one’s body suddenly becomes a thing glorious – youngsters think they are part of a popular group after participating in this challenge. It gives them a sense of identity, however misplaced it is.

These trends often go unnoticed until the time they become viral. Parents seek help for their kids but sometimes it gets too late. Therefore it's important to talk to the children right now and gauge if anything is bothering them. Helping them understand the dangers of such trends can go a long way in saving innocent lives.