Indian Journal of Social Psychiatry (Jan 2019)

Is the Blue Whale Game among adolescents just a media hype?

  • Guru S Gowda,
  • Soumitra Das,
  • Vishwas S Yadawad,
  • Manjunath B Kondapura,
  • Seshadri Sekhar Chatterjee,
  • Shivanand Hiremath,
  • Suresh Bada Math

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/ijsp.ijsp_96_18
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 35, no. 4
pp. 227 – 230

Abstract

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Gaming addiction is an emerging public health concern among adolescents from all over the world. Blue Whale Game is an allegedly reported epidemic which involve self-harm of adolescents. Although there have been reported deaths of teenagers which were allegedly related to Blue Whale challenge game across the globe, there has been no confirmed case/evidence till now. This article throws light on the proposed hypothesis and speculation behind the suicide of teenagers and discusses public health interventions at the individual, family, and state levels.

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