Internet Driven Suicides Raise Concern Among Parents

Two suicide pacts on Wednesday, one in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and the other in Telangana, down south, involving five minors and a mother, had drawn people’s attention to worrying trend of social media-driven suicides.

The three minor girls in Ghaziabad, Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12), were lured by the Korean dramas and K-pop culture so intensely that they had created social media accounts using Korean names — Maria, Aliza and Cindy. The trio had significant number of followers. Trouble began when their father, Chetan Kumar, took away their mobiles and said that he would get them married. They became emotionally distressed as they assumed themselves like “Korean princesses” and could imagine marrying Indians.

These days, youth are not able to view themselves separate from their mobile phones.

During adolescence, it is common for individuals to yearn for recognition and acknowledgement. Social media is becoming handy for the youth to fulfil these needs in the form of likes, views and shares. In a bid to gain recognition and become popular, youth are getting attracted to social media as it would bring multi-cultural and multi-national audience onto the same platform.

Lured by the likes, views and shares, they are going extreme extents and in some cases, they are losing their lives making reels involving fatal risks, in  their effort to prove different from others. In yet other cases, school students and some youth are getting addicted to gaming apps which are stimulating their senses and coaxing them to end their lives by suicide, at the end of the stipulated-time challenging tasks.

The three girls named four mobile games – Poppy, Playtime, The Baby in Yellow, Evil Nun: The Scary Horror Game and Ice Scream, in their handwritten note.

Though engaged with several friends online and other content on their phones for several hours in a day, many youth feel desolated and lonely. They complain that they have friends but cannot trust any of them.

The increasing engagement with digital platforms is having an adverse impact even on a few adults.

While the reasons behind techie Vijayashanti Reddy are yet to be ascertained, she ended her life, along with her two teenaged children, after being disillusioned with life.

In the suicide note, she apologized to her relatives for taking the extreme step. Despite having a good-paying job and a stable family, Vijaya opted to suddenly die by suicide, stating that she is not happy with her life.

It is being suspected that Vijaya could have felt frustrated due to ‘loneliness’ as her husband is in Dubai and children in their hostels. Many mothers were taken aback witnessing Vijaya could lead her grown up children towards death, despite being a responsible woman.

In both the cases, parents are being blamed for the death of the adolescents. Chetan Kumar and his wife are being faulted for not being able to get connected emotionally to their three daughters, Vijaya’s role in the death of her children is raising concern.

Parents should act as guides and tutors of their children, helping them in their holistic development. Children get addicted to mobile phones or other vices due to emotional unavailability of their parents, pointed out psychologists. Responsible parenting is crucial in proper upbringing and overall development of children.