He would have grabbed him by the throat, perhaps surprising him from behind, however purposely causing him to faintwith the shadow of a dangerous social challenge: the episode would have happened in recent weeks, a few days before the end of the school year, in a technical institute in Modena against a 16 year old student, hit by another boy from the same school. But there are still many details to be clarified. The victim did not immediately tell what happened to the teachers but revealed what happened only once at home, in front of their parents, who would now be evaluating what to do. As reported by Il Resto del Carlinothe family is also considering filing a complaint.
The “challenge” hypothesis
Moreover, as mentioned, behind this affair, which could have also involved other young people in various ways and which is still in the reconstruction phase, could hide another social challengethe one known as the Blackout game, or fainting game, which is nothing more than a test for stay as long as possible without oxygen; a challenge “sold” as courage to share on social media, which too many times has already had dramatic results. Fortunately, in the case of the 16 year old from Modena, there would have been no serious consequencesbut this does not take away the danger of the gesture and the need to continue to raise awareness among young people and not only of similar challenges or social challenges.
Previous
Few years ago, a boy two years younger he lost his life in the Milan area precisely because of the Blackout game, in that case in his own home and in total autonomy. Today the types of dangerous games or live broadcasts to play on social media, particularly on TikTok, have multiplied dramatically.
The same president of the national principals association, Antonello Giannelliat the end of last year spoke of a widespread phenomenon that is difficult to stem: in recent times, in fact, live broadcasts during lessonsperhaps less dangerous but still unacceptable and not tolerable, with requests on the other side of the screen ranging from “disturb the lesson” to “if you whistle I’ll follow you”, up to comments of a sexual nature.
Extreme challenges
He also intervened last year on how to recognize and intervene in relation to dangerous and less dangerous social challenges Save the Children: «Extreme challenges have been talked about for a long time (we all remember the Blue Whale phenomenon) – he recalled –: by them we mean a practice that can suggestive to boys and girls and progressively induce them to carry out acts of self-harm, dangerous actions (leaning from buildings, ledges, windows), dangerous selfies, up to and including acts that lead to suicide. This suggestion can be made by the will of an adult (or groups of adults) who hooks up via social media and induces the “victim” to progress through the “stages” of the practice or on social media or messaging groups in which the the kids themselves compare themselves on the various stagesencourage each other, incite each other to progress in the dangerous actions required by the practice, while keeping significant adults stubbornly in the dark.” The emulation effect it is therefore the most dangerous element and for this reason the invitation is to talk about these phenomena carefully, at school and in the family.
Fragility
«To date, little is known about the real correlation between cases of suicide and participation in a challenge – concluded Save the Children -. What we know is that fragilities of pre- and adolescence are many and, regardless of technology, acts of self-harm can be very widespread.”
