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.
翻译:网上自杀游戏据称涉及一系列挑战,最终以自杀为目的。近年来出现了一系列挑战,如蓝鲸挑战、莫莫、火仙和Doki Doki。挑战文化是一个根深蒂固的在线现象,不管挑战是否危险,而社交媒体特别鼓励青少年参与,因为他们渴望关注。虽然没有证据表明自杀游戏是真实的,但世界各地的当局都通过发布警告和开展宣传运动来回应。我们采访了教师、儿童保护专家和非政府组织,对2015-2019年的历史新闻报道进行了系统审查,并搜索了警方和其他权威网站,以查明相关的警告发布。我们随后综合了有关自杀游戏现象的现有知识。我们工作的一个重要发现是,媒体、社交媒体和当局的警告发布主要是为了传播挑战文化,并夸张对在线风险的担忧。