March 18, 2021

When risky online challenges meet digital illiteracy

topic:	Child rights
located:	Bosnia and Herzegovina
editor:	Katarina Panić

Two weeks ago, messages from teachers flooded the Viber groups of school children's parents. Interpol warned the Republika Srpska Ministry of Internal Affairs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then, the police warned the schools and parents that a mass suicide of young people has been announced for that day on the social media platform TikTok.

"The Ministry appeals to all parents, especially to those who know that their children are active on social networks and have a profile on TikTok, to check their activities immediately, and to pay special attention these days, in terms of constant supervision," the Ministry stated.

Allegedly, the mass suicide call was related to the local group in Russia. Fortunately, nothing similar happened. Unfortunately, controlling children on the Internet is not as simple as it may seem at first glance. Parents would initially have to be digitally more literate than their kids to deny them access to harmful content online. However, the statistics are devastating: one-third of people in Bosnia have never used a computer, while one-fourth of them have never used the internet.

Back in January, within a few days, at least three kids died after attempting a blackout breath-holding challenge. A ten-year-old girl in Italy, a nine-year-old boy from Trinidad and Tobago, and a ten-year-old boy from Serbia lost their lives due to asphyxiation. They intended to put a belt or scarf around their necks, tighten it while filming with a mobile phone until they faint. The challenge went wrong, and they died by choking themselves.

The video-sharing application does not permit access to users below 13. However, this rule is easily avoidable. The network is also constantly removing content that incites suicide, but the users are often much faster. Furthermore, too many warnings may weaken parental caution, especially when nothing happens afterwards. Besides, one must not forget another risk - the old, well-known online addiction.

"She is moving as her body is in the shape of the screen. All her gestures reflect a rectangle. When I take her phone away from her, she has the crises like the drug addicts. She throws herself on the floor, cries, and does not communicate with any of us. But she does not communicate with the family when she does have TikTok access either," a mother of a 12-year-old girl told FairPlanet.

Image: xcomputerman. 

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