Arizona schools warn parents about a terrifying viral social challenge
Arizona schools are warning parents about a social-media challenge that encourages kids to ever-increasing harmful behavior that ends in suicide.
Parents were alerted to the “Blue Whale Challenge” by schools and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery on Wednesday.
“I do want to make parents aware of this so they can have a conversation with their kids that if anybody starts talking to them about participating in the blue whale game or anything related to it,” Montgomery said. “Understand that this can have severely tragic consequences.”
The Blue Whale Challenge was called one of the “scariest and the most mysterious” YouTube challenges your kids might try by Common Sense Media, a non-profit that promotes online safety.
How it works
Over the course of 50 days, an anonymous administrator assigns kids self-harm tasks. The challenges may start by asking kids to watch a scary movie and then grow increasingly dangerous to include acts like cutting. On the 50th day, the participant is supposed to commit suicide. The game can reach kids through social-media channels like Instagram, SnapChat, YouTube and texting.
The trend was reported to have begun in Russia but that has been disproven, as have concerns that it has been linked to an increase in suicide. But what may have started as a hoax worries educators because it targets a vulnerable teen population.
Phoenix’s Madison School District sent an email through its PTO on Facebook Wednesday.
The post said the Blue Whale Challenge “has become a viral trend with some students on middle school campuses in the Madison School District.”
"Social media can push teens to do dangerous things in order to feel included with their peers," the post said.
Madison School District Superintendent Quinn Kellis said a principal alerted the district after a meeting with a parent and student. Based on this exchange, the district shared information about the Blue Whale Challenge with parent organizations and other school networks. No other middle-school principals in the district reported any dealings with the game, Kellis said.
Having the conversation
Joronda Montaño of the non-profit Phoenix organization NotMyKid, which addresses teen challenges including online safety, said the Blue Whale Challenge only recently became a topic of conversation.
Montaño, the group's program director, said parents should start by asking their children open-ended questions.
"Simply ask, 'Are there any new games online that you're hearing about or that you and your friends are playing that are popular on Instagram and Snapchat? Are there any popular challenges?' Take an inventory first," she said.
Middle schoolers and teens are wary of anything that will get them in trouble with parents, Montaño said. So adopt a neutral tone.
Let middle-school kids lead the discussion, but it's appropriate to ask older kids directly about the Blue Whale Challenge.
"Then ask, 'And what about that would I be most concerned about?' " Montaño said.
Parents should also search hashtags like #BlueWhaleChallenge on the social sites their kids use, she said.
The challenge doesn't appear to have had much of an impact among Valley schools contacted.
But other schools and law-enforcement around the country have issued warnings.
- The Baldwin County Public School System in Alabama notified parents in May on Facebook, saying the challenge may have been introduced to two of its high-school campuses.
- The Northern California Vacaville Unified School District this month in May parents that you can "never be too careful when it comes to protecting our children" in a Facebook post about the Blue Whale Challenge.
- The Miami Police Department produced a video last week about it.
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Reach the reporter at sonja.haller@arizonarepublic.com. Follow at twitter.com/sonjahaller.