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Social media and mental health

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August 21, 2017

What is the issue?

  • Blue Whale Challenge is said to be the reason behind some recent suicides by teenagers in India.
  • Huge number of youngsters seeking to play the game may already be prone to mental disorders such as depression or anxiety.

What is Blue whale?

  • Blue Whale is the most disturbing of trends driven by social media.
  • Players who sign up are ordered around by an administrator, referred to as the “Blue Whale”.
  • Players log on at odd hours to receive instructions.
  • They are told to complete painful, dangerous “tasks” such as carving letters on their bodies for a 50-day period with the final task being death.
  • The game is already banned in most jurisdictions and police in many nations have issued advisories.

What is the status of mental disorders among urban teens?

  • A study suggests that mental disorders in the age group of 13-17 years in the urban metros at 13.5%, nearly double the countrywide prevalence (7.3%).
  • Many teen agers in urban cities has Sub Subclinical depression.
  • It is a condition in which a person has symptoms which signify a chance of depression but does not meet the criteria for a depressive disorder.
  • Teenage girls were at a higher risk for experiencing depressive symptoms than boys.
  • The overall prevalence in India was higher than statistics obtained from similar studies in the West.

What are the reasons for ill -mental health?

  • Family setup-There is glaring gap between the number of teenagers and their family members.
  • With nuclear families and lesser interaction with peers, children these days depend just on their parents, who may both be working and busy with their day-to-day lives.
  • Technological access-Many youngsters get their own smart devices before they hit their teens.
  • Parents are clueless about how easy it is to bypass ‘parental controls’ installed on these devices.

What are the consequences of these disorders?

  • Youngsters in the age group of 16-20 were socially withdrawn after getting addicted to online gaming and social media.
  • Many of these youngsters show a decline in their academic performance and social skills after becoming addicted.
  • Some may be introverts by nature or may have become withdrawn after getting addicted to the online world.
  • When parents intervene, these teenagers respond with anger, irritability, and in a few cases they resort to self-harm.
  • Depression can be a killer, and sometimes even a trivial online game can push someone to a place of no return.

What are the measures taken so far?

  • The Indian government has done a sensible job by asking all major social media and communication platforms to remove any links pertaining to the Blue Whale challenge.
  • There are new “positive” challenges such as Happy Blue Whale Challenge and The Pink Whale challenge which help youngsters learn methods to cope with depression and low moods.
  • Parents are aware to pay greater heed to their children’s social behaviour patterns and online surfing habits, by various efforts by NGO’s and government.
  • Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) clinic, India’s first technology de-addiction clinic in Bengaluru helps teenagers to get rid of addictive technology.

 

Source: Business Standard,  The Hindu

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