Online Suicide Games: A Form of Digital Self-harm or A Myth?

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phenomenon of online suicide games, analyzing their cultural impact, media portrayal, and the lack of evidence for their real existence, highlighting how warnings may inadvertently amplify fears.

Contribution

It systematically reviews news, authority warnings, and expert opinions to clarify the myth versus reality of online suicide games and challenge culture.

Findings

Media and authorities may inadvertently spread challenge culture.

No concrete evidence supports the existence of actual suicide games.

Warnings may exaggerate fears and contribute to moral panic.

Abstract

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.