Protect your children from the Blue Whale online suicide game
Rumours of SA children playing and dying as a result of the online suicide game Blue Whale are doing the rounds again. Here’s what parents need to know in order to protect their children.
Parents are cautioned to monitor their children’s use of social media and their internet usage after various reports have been doing the rounds on social media detailing children dying from participating in the suicide game called Blue Whale, Centurion Rekord reports.
The game, invented by a 22-year-old Russian man, was linked by a Russian newspaper to more than a hundred deaths.
READ MORE: Blue Whale suicide game hits Joburg
A Siberian court sentenced Philipp Budeikin, the creator of the Blue Whale game, to three years in jail for inciting Russian youths to kill themselves.
The game has been linked to countless teenage suicides.
The 22-year-old confessed that he convinced about 16 young girls to end their lives saying that he thinks that his victims were just ‘biological waste’ and told police that they were ‘happy to die’ and that he was ‘cleansing society’.
The potentially deadly game
Once the app has been downloaded the player is assigned 50 dangerous and dark daily tasks which culminate in suicide on the last day.
The sickening tasks – that include self-harming, watching horror movies and sleep deprivation – brainwash players over the 50 days of the game. The challenges grow darker and more severe and on the last day the exhausted and confused player is encouraged to commit suicide.
The game ‘administrator’ also instructs players to self-mutilate by carving whales on their bodies and to then post pictures on social media.
Fifteen of the teens who killed themselves were ordered by the ‘administrator’ to delete all correspondence on their social media accounts.
The game is explained here:
What should concerned parents do?
Parents should always be vigilant in monitoring their children’s behaviour and online activities. If you suspect that your child might be suffering from depression, or in instances where they to show suicidal tendencies, rather get him/her professional help. The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) offer parents the necessary support and guidance in such instances.
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