Chennai: Chennai police on Monday issued an advisory to public regarding the Blue Whale challenge, an Internet game that is believed to instigate its participants, mostly teenagers to carry out tasks, the final of which is committing suicide.
“Teenagers and young adults in their formative years seek social validation, acceptance and aspire to be part of something bigger than them and this game exploits that,” the official statement read.
Police requested elders to be wary of change in behaviour in their children and sought parents to watch out for abnormal activity, depressed/violent behaviour, long lonely hours online, late night surfing, avoiding family company among other unusual activities.
According to the police, some of the dangerous tasks which are part of the game include waking up at 4.20 am, watching horror videos alone, inflicting self-injury and the supposedly most apparent of them all-drawing picture of whale and then carving the same onto forearm or legs.
Police also suggested parents to monitor social media activity of young people and ensure that they are allowed to access them only when they are convinced they are mature enough to handle them.
A week ago, a 24-year-old college student jumped off the seventh floor balcony of her apartment complex in Virugambakkam. The woman, J. Niveditha, miraculously survived after she fell on a parked car there.
Meanwhile, rumours in the apartment complex about the suspicion of the student being a victim of the ‘blue whale challenge’ had forced cops to go through the victim’s phone and other gadgets. The suspicion was eventually ruled out.
