Blue Whale challenge: Teens can’t pick real

MUMBAI: As the police suspect that the Blue Whale challenge, an online suicide game, might have prompted a Mumbai teen to commit suicide on Saturday, psychiatrists said that teenagers find it hard to demarcate between the real and virtual world.

The game is believed to have been the brainchild of an arrested Russian national who admitted to have psychologically manipulated teen girls to kill themselves.

Experts said that parents and schools can play an important role in putting an end to these deaths by simple methods of surveillance and taking care of teenagers’ mental health, using curricular and extra curricular activities. The online game challenges players to complete 50 tasks in 50 days, with the last task being to commit suicide.

It calls upon participants via social media to complete a dangerous self-harm challenge over a period of 50 days, which includes slashing wrists, drug overdoses, and watching scary movies to waking up at unusual hours, media reported.

According to reports, the dangerous game has killed more than 100 children in Russia and the UK.

“This is a clear cut example of not being able to differentiate between the virtual and real world. When a video game character dies, he can be restored again but teenagers or adolescents today tend to take these games and challenges too seriously, and forget the difference between dying in the game and for real,” said Dr Sagar Mundada, psychiatrist from KEM hospital.