The Chennai police, on Monday, issued an advisory to the public regarding the 'Blue Whale' challenge, an online game that leads its participants to commit suicide. Parents were further requested to monitor their children's online activity and look out for any behaviour hinting at depression.
The Blue Whale Challenge is a morbid social media ‘game’ which targets vulnerable teens and pushes them to inflict self-harm and ultimately commit suicide. The challenge involves 50 tasks, which are given by an administrator or curator, which have to be completed one by one.
“Teenagers and young adults in their formative years seek social validation, acceptance and aspire to be part of something bigger than themselves and this game exploits that," an official statement said, according to ToI.
Behaviours such as 'long lonely hours online, late night surfing and avoiding family company' have been highlighted as a cause for concern. They have also pointed out certain tasks such as 'waking up at 4.20am, watching horror videos alone, inflicting injuries to self and carving the picture of a whale onto forearm or legs.'
With two suicides reported and concerns rising over the Blue Whale Challenge, even schools in Chennai have begun counselling parents and children about the dangers of the game.
The Times of India reported that Hindustan International School in Karapakkam for the last few days has been consulting psychologists and sending out letters to parents about the dangers children are exposed to, online. This comes after the principal, Iris Theodore, heard rumours that one of the students in the school was playing the game.