Sir,
This has reference to the writeup’Blue Whale Challenge-What can the parents do’ (DE, Magazine, September 17, 2017).It is sad that game called the Blue Whale Challenge, which started in Russia on a social network,is reportedly responsible for over 130 deaths in Russia and is believed to be behind suicides of many teenagers in many other countries across the world, including India.Generally game starts with a simple challenge and teenager participants are asked to complete a dare and upload selfies or videos to prove that they have completed the task assigned.As creators/administrators of the group of this game donot allow participants to leave, it is the duty of the parents to keep a check on the online behaviour of their children.Parents ought to warn their children against joining vague groups to avoid being tracked and risks involved in playing such games.Parents need to be friendly with their children and spend as much time as they can with them.If they detect any sign of their child showing the inclination to be alone and becoming sad and quiet or frequently talking about death, suddenly changing his behaviour, they must take it as warning signs and take the child to a mental professional.Similarly,if a child finds trouble in his studies, parents should support him instead of reprimanding him.Parents should never hand over the mobile phone to their child with the purpose to keep him busy.They should fix time for the children to use mobile phone and keep a close watch on him while he is using the phone.Holding frequent counselling and interactive sessions in schools on such issues can also help in dealing with such problems.Moreover, all the governments across the world must act tough on the creators/administrators of such groups and ban them for starting games which incite children to end their life rather than exhorting them to live it happily and joyfully.
Yours etc….
Ashok Sharma,
Udhampur.
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