Deadly Challenges Killing Teens: How to Protect Children on Social Media

Ukraine was shocked by a story that took place in one of the lyceums in the city of Boyarka in the Kiev region. Two seventh-graders right in the Lyceum drank a huge dose of pills during the break. One girl died, the other ended up in intensive care, writes Air force.

Photo: Shutterstock

The police are establishing how the children managed to get the drugs, and the news itself immediately spread on social networks and the media.

What happened

On February 16, it was a regular school day at the Boyar Lyceum "Harmony". But suddenly the schoolchildren found two girls unconscious and sounded the alarm. Subsequently, the police resumed the approximate course of events. He looked like this.

Two friends, seventh-graders, went to a nearby pharmacy during a break and bought an analogue drug “No-shpa”, and then returned to school and during the break they drank 40 tablets each.

The consequences were disastrous. The doctors failed to save one girl. She was 13 years old. Another, 12-year-old, is still in the hospital, although her life is no longer in danger.

Immediately after this news, the tragedy was associated with the harmful influence of the Internet.

The girl who survived told police that they learned about the pills from social networks. The police said it was about TikTok. However, the girls’ classmates with whom journalists spoke say that it’s not a matter of Internet trends. According to them, the girl who died had many problems in her family and thoughts of suicide. The friend, it seems, did it “for company.”

Experts also explain that the medications the girls took are antispasmodics, and an overdose of any drug of this type in such an amount can be fatal.

In the United States, a teenage girl died in a similar challenge

TikTok recently has a new challenge: teens are taking large amounts of Benadryl, reports Health... A disturbing trend has allegedly led to death of a 15-year-old girl from Oklahoma in August. Relatives described her as a "happy teenager", "not one of those who experiment with drugs."

The girl's death comes after reports of three Texas teenagers who were hospitalized in May after overdosing on the drug. All three teens shared that the idea came to them after watching a video on TikTok that says they can get high and hallucinate if they take a dozen or more Benadryl tablets.

While Benadryl seems to be a fairly harmless drug, it can cause health problems if abused, and overdose can be fatal. It is important for parents to monitor the child's medication, if prescribed by a doctor, and strictly follow the instructions.

Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Benadryl manufacturer, denounced the TikTok challenge issue, saying the trend is "extremely worrisome, dangerous and should be stopped immediately." The drug maker also noted that "is working with TikTok to do everything in our power to stop this dangerous trend, including removing content from social media that demonstrates this behavior."

On the subject: In Indiana, a teenager died after a popular on social networks Challenge

Nine victims of the cartoon death

A teenage girl from Moscow fell onto a car from the 13th floor and survived. She turned out to be an anime fan. As reported Life.ru a source in law enforcement agencies, her mother told investigators about the victim's hobby for Japanese cartoons.

The woman repeatedly tried to gently convince her daughter not to watch these “scary cartoons.” But the schoolgirl reassured her mother. A 14-year-old girl said that anime are not scary and there is no blood or cruelty in them. Life's interlocutor clarified that on the day of the tragedy, February 16, the girl was upset. She stayed late after school and was worried that she didn’t warn her mother about it. The woman reassured her daughter on the phone and waited for her at home, but she never arrived. As Life already reported, the girl fell from the 13th floor onto the roof of a car parked in the yard. She miraculously survived and is now in the hospital.

The schoolgirl became the ninth child, an anime fan, who tried to commit suicide since the beginning of the year in Russia. It turned out that the dead children were watching a Japanese cartoon marked 18+ “Death Note”. After previous tragedies, a criminal case was opened under the article “Incitement to suicide” against unidentified persons.

“Death Note” is an anime series based on the comics by Tsugumi Ohba about a Japanese schoolboy who decided to create a new world without villains and began to punish everyone who committed crimes. He is helped in this by a death note - a magical thing that kills people, as soon as its owner writes down the name of the victim in it. Previously, a court in St. Petersburg banned the anime “Death Note.”

In Russia, Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries, there allegedly existed a game called “Blue Whale”, the fulfillment of the rules of which in the end drove children to suicide. This game is still considered an urban legend. But after news of its existence, “death groups” allegedly began to appear on the Internet, operating on the same principle. According to «Medusa», in 2017, a criminal case was even opened against the coordinators of such groups under the article “Incitement to suicide.”

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York

How to monitor a child on the Internet

Ways to Strike a Balance Between Surveillance and Spitefulness Recommends Lifehacker.

• Teach Internet safety rules. The child should become familiar with the rules of behavior on the Internet. Tell him that the network can be robbed, offend and intimidated, as well as harm your smartphone or computer. It is important for your child to know that you cannot communicate with strangers in instant messaging programs and on social networks. Even with children: a boy or a girl can easily turn out to be an adult.
• Encourage stories about questionable information. Children hide information from their parents, as they believe that nothing but tantrums, bans on the Internet and scandals, they will not have to expect from their parents. Only calm friendly communication will allow you to protect your child from real trouble in time. In order for the child to talk about friends, offenders, offers to go somewhere, indecent photos or pictures sent by strangers, parents need to establish friendly contact with him.
• Set control to available devices. You will not be able to reach all the gadgets from which the child goes online. However, it is within your power to secure those at home. To do this: install antivirus, parental control program, enable safe search in the browser (or install a child's browser). Applications that can be adapted for children (for example, YouTube) will also help.
• Do not meddle in correspondence without asking. An innocent desire to read a child's correspondence violates his right to privacy and secrets. Show respect and hold back. And if you nevertheless spied on, then do not pay attention to profanity and rudeness. The only important thing here is what is dangerous: discussion of fights, proposal of drugs, invitations from adult strangers, intimate photographs. And if you find something, then ask for forgiveness for violating the boundaries and explain to the child what is threatening him. It is important to maintain an atmosphere of goodwill, however difficult it may be.

Read also on ForumDaily:

TikTok blocking postponed: US and China to sign an agreement

Parents warned of new deadly challenge among teenagers

Six events that everyone was waiting for, but they never happened

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.