Blue Whale Challenge: teen denies knowledge of game
‘The boy’s case cannot be determined as addiction to the game as yet’
“Nothing has happened to me; I have no idea of any harmful game,” mutters sixteen-year-old Suresh (name changed), kept under observation for the last few days at the Intensive Care Medical Unit (ICMU) at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital.
The boy had been spending hours on end with his mobile phone particularly during late night and early morning hours for many weeks, downloading and playing games. At one point, his father could not tolerate any further and smashed the phone.
But this act angered the son and he became abnormally aggressive and was taken to the Thuraiyur Government Hospital where he was examined by a visiting psychiatrist before being shifted to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital under sedation.
At the ICMU, the boy is restive and wants to get back home immediately. “No body wants to listen to me. All keep saying that I am being treated for bringing down my stress. But, they suspect that I am stubborn and lying about not knowing a thing about the so-called ‘blue whale’ game. I am helpless,” he says.
A distraught father Nallendran (41) of Thuraiyur town who had known his son’s interest for car racing games said he had admitted the latter forcibly at the hospital for counselling support so as to rule out the boy’s attraction towards the ‘blue whale’ game.
A team of psychiatrists formed newly under instructions of the Health Ministry has kept him under observation at the ICMU.
The hospital Dean In-Charge Anitha is tight-lipped about the progress in the treatment. On the instructions of the DME, a team consisting of two chief doctors and three assistant doctors has been formed, the Dean said, adding: “The boy's case cannot be determined as addiction to ‘blue whale’ game as yet. There is no inscription of whale on him. But, the counselling is nevertheless eliciting desired results.”
The Thuraiyur police say there was no way to relate the boy’s aggression to the game as the phone had been destroyed.
“But, indications are that the boy was prone to anger due to mental stress, and this condition is being made out to be a symptom of addiction to the game,” an official attached to the station said.
Nallendran says overbearing media attention was only making matters worse. “I now understand that his aggression was an outcome of inadequacies on my part in handling his adolescence. I should have been flexible. He feels disgraced and is reluctant to face his friends and teachers again. I am in a quandary,” lamented Nallendran.
No comments:
Post a Comment