Citation

Bada M, Clayton R. Ann. Rev. Cyberth. Telemed. 2019; 17: 25-30.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Interactive Media Institute)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

Online 'suicide games' are claimed to involve a series of challenges, ending in suicide. A whole succession of these such as the Blue Whale Challenge, Momo, the Fire Fairy and Doki Doki have appeared in recent years. The 'challenge culture' is a deeply rooted online phenomenon, whether the challenge is dangerous or not, while social media particularly motivates youngsters to take part because of their desire for attention. Although there is no evidence that the suicide games are 'real', authorities around the world have reacted by releasing warnings and creating information campaigns to warn youngsters and parents. We interviewed teachers, child protection experts and NGOs, conducted a systematic review of historical news reports from 2015-2019 and searched police and other authority websites to identify relevant warning releases. We then synthesized the existing knowledge on the suicide games phenomenon. A key finding of our work is that media, social media and warning releases by authorities are mainly just serving to spread the challenge culture and exaggerate fears regarding online risk. © 2019, Interactive Media Institute. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Prevention; human; suicide; Suicide; police; Self-harm; school; interview; health care policy; automutilation; cultural factor; authority; teacher; child protection; Article; health literacy; social media; game addiction; Online games