More and more school districts are sending letters home to parents alerting them about a viral suicide game. It is called "Blue Whale Challenge, " and it is all over social media. The game is dangerous that leads to suicide. It is a 50-day challenge that encourages young children to harm themselves just to win the challenge. To win the game, a person has to commit suicide.
About the challenge
The challenge originated in Russia two years ago, and it is just becoming popular in the United States and the rest of the world. To play and take advantage of the challenge, a person is advised to do different dangerous tasks each day for 50 days.
Some young people end up in intensive care in the hospital before they get to the 50th day because they cut themselves or do other harmful things to themselves along the way.
People don't understand why someone would design an app for young people to harm themselves with suicide being the ultimate challenge. The app was once in the Apple's app store but has been pulled. A BBC report reveals that a 21-year-old man named Philipp Budeikin pleaded guilty in a Russian court for designing the suicide challenge.
The tasks are given by a person called a curator each day. Such tasks include dangerous things mostly to cause bodily harm. Then the curator has to be shown proof that the tasks have been done.
The game starts out with the less challenging things to do such as getting out of bed every morning at 4 a.m. or watching a horror movie that has been recommended by the player's curator.
Then teen are given more dangerous tasks such as cutting themselves in certain places on different days. The proof of self-mutilation is usually posted online.
By the 50th day, the person playing the game is told to commit suicide by jumping off a building, throwing themselves in front of a train or by hanging.
Number of deaths
The numbers of deaths have not been verified all over the world, but it has been reported that over 130 middle school students and other teens have committed suicide by playing the game in Russia.
The first case was documented in 2015. Oher than the high number of suicides related to the challenge, a large number of children have ended up in the hospital as a result of playing the game.
Google reported that there has been an increase in searches for "Blue Whale Challenge" between February 19, 2017, and on April 29, 2017. That shows that news about the game is spreading. Some people think this is too bizarre to be true, but school districts are not taking changes and are warning parents to look out for signs of this video game in the hands of their children.
