Jahnabi Mitra, a Psychology student looking for new hideouts and exploring exciting pieces of stuff under the Sun.
In our previous article, we tapped into the psychological aspects of the principles used by the Blue Whale app to lure its users into its doomed future. However, in this article, we would like to dwell deeper into the psyche of the individual who designed this app and what makes people use it.
Why did he design the game? Why are people still falling prey to this game four after its invention? Is it morally right or wrong? But first, let us gain some insight on such mass suicide inducing phenomena. During my high school years, the song titled ‘Gloomy Sunday’, also popularly known as ‘The Hungarian Suicide Song’ by Rezsõ Seress, made in the year 1933 was widely talked about. The urban legend has it that anybody who heard this song felt compelled to commit suicide at the very instant. The song even got banned from radio and live performances until 2002. This phenomenon was however spread across the western countries. Curiosity had driven my teenage brain to look up all information regarding the same on a mundane summer afternoon. Internet was filled with hundreds of terrifying stories on the mesmerizing power of the song. With a lot of skepticism, I played the song, dreading to myself and committing to the fact in my head- “A song cannot make me give away my life.”
The takeaway?
‘You’ have control over your mind and body in every situation of life. It is the amount of control you believe you have that makes you susceptible to the environmental factors.
Throughout history, there are pieces of evidence of mass manipulation and mind games played by authority figures. From subtly exuding power to inducing a false sense of ‘victim’ on the audience- leaders and seductresses like Cleopatra have been using these since centuries. These techniques are so subtle that they are rarely noticed and they have led to falling of nations and dynasties over time. The manipulator even uses ‘learned helplessness’ where the victim is convinced that they are unable to take any decision and think rationally beyond a point.
In yet another context, if we analyze the personalities correlation between risk-taking individuals and suicide prone personality – they often have low self-esteem, major depressive episodes unidentified by feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness, isolated lives and lacking ample social support. Dr. Hozefa, an eminent psychiatrist stated in an interview with a national news report channel that ‘The Blue Whale Challenge’ is more than just a game or an app. “It is a phenomenon where some sick minds are on a lookout for vulnerable kids with low self-esteem.”
Apparently, the developer of the game- Phillip Budeikin, is a 22-year-old Russian student of Psychology who intended to design a game with a motive of cleaning the society by pushing to death those he deemed of having no value or in his words are “biological waste”. Our team at Women Times went further into the investigation and had a conversation with a level 8 player of the game. The ironical part of this conversation is that it was only possible because our government has banned the game beyond 8th level; otherwise, this young fellow too might have been just a number in rising toll of death caused by the game. The interviewee is a B.Tech, 2nd-year student from India. He says he had stopped using it since the point where the curators started instructing him to cut himself on different body parts. He claims that depression might be one of the factors why so many young teenagers are falling prey to this death circle but it certainly cannot be claimed to be the sole factor.
On the brighter side, there does exist a happier alternative to the Blue Whale game i.e. called the Pink Whale Challenge. Designed by Baleia Rosa, this challenge encourages its users to commit to daily tasks which are positive and generous in nature and it aims to increase the quality of life. With 3,40,000 followers on Facebook, Pink Whale is constantly gaining popularity.
The question lies in whether the younger generation has ingrained highly romanticized ideas of the darker side of life from popular culture? Or are they still lacking in the basic love and empathy they require at the vulnerable stage of life?
