Dangerous teenage games. What you should pay attention to. Adolescents are at risk

/ Illustration site

Kazakhstan, according to the WHO, ranks 2nd in the world in terms of the number of suicides among young people.

Special services regularly block suicidal groups, but their popularity is only growing. Recently, children have been addicted to the game of death. And if earlier in such cases the media were blamed, they say, journalists often talk about suicides, which fueled interest, then they started talking about the Blue Whale recently, and meanwhile the number of participants in this group has reached more than 16 thousand people, some of whom are Kazakh schoolchildren ... The editors of the site decided to figure out what these deadly groups are, how to protect adolescents from them and, most importantly, how to find out at the first signs whether a child is prone to suicide in order to help him in time.

Rules of the game

The rules are quite simple - a curator is assigned to the participant, who sends tasks. 50 days - 50 tasks, the last of which is suicide.

50 days - 50 tasks / Photo from the site vk-smi.ru

The other day, a 15-year-old pupil of a boarding school in Aktau cut his veins on his left arm with a sharpener blade. Thus, the teenager completed the second task, which was sent to him by one of the curators of the deadly game "Blue Whale".

The first was the easiest - to draw a dolphin on the hand, take a photo and send it to the site. According to the teenager, a friend told him about this game.

"According to the rules, it was necessary to post a picture with certain hashtags on the VKontakte social network. I did this together with my friend. Curators use hashtags to find players and give them tasks. I waited two days, but no one wrote to me. Then I found out that a friend entered the game and gave a link to the curator. He gave me trial tasks, "said Kirill Volkov (the name has been changed for ethical reasons. - Auth.).

According to the teenager, he knew about the consequences of the deadly game. However, he wanted to outwit the supervisor and did not intend to carry out the last assignment. As Kirill said, he was very curious why this game is so interesting to many teenagers and what kind of tasks there are.

However, as reported in the Department of Education of the Mangistau region, they learned about the shocking act of the teenager from classmates, who told everything to the school nurse, and she told the management.

“Fortunately, the cuts are shallow and pose no danger. The boy himself says that he learned about this game from a friend, and he wondered what tasks would be given there. We had conversations with the children, but now information about the game is spreading like viral advertising. People are interested in what it is and why they are talking about it. Currently, psychologists are working with the teenager, "said Almazhai Rainberdiyeva, head of the educational work department of the Department of Education in the Mangistau region.

"Mom, dad, I love you!"

Relatives of the recently deceased teenagers associate the death of children with a deadly game. On the night of February 6, 19-year-old Karaganda girl Galina Sibiryakova passed away. The phone of the deceased has the hashtags of the same game.

"I suspect that my niece passed away because of the deadly game" Blue Whale. "This scary game is also called" Silent House. " the task is deadly ", - said the girl's uncle Marat.

However, the Department of Internal Affairs of the Karaganda region has not yet linked this case to a deadly game. Pre-trial investigation is carried out under the article "Driving to suicide".

It is also believed that a teenager who crashed in Temirtau could also play a deadly game. A seventh grader fell from the roof of a high-rise building, a message to his relatives in the snow: "Mom, Dad, I love you."

Message in the snow / Photo site

"It seems to me that he was forced or pushed from the roof, he was a responsible boy, he promised to be home at four o'clock, and the tragedy happened at about seven o'clock in the evening," said the aunt of the deceased Nurayat Smailov.

Law enforcement agencies are asked not to sow panic and not associate all suicides with the deadly game. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted that nine criminal cases were investigated last year on the facts of bringing minors to suicide. However, no information has been received about the influence of social networks on their behavior. However, the organizers of the so-called death groups face criminal liability for driving to suicide.

"Currently, the Internet is being monitored to identify groups with ideas of suicide and other illegal orientation to block access. In order to prevent child suicide, we urge parents to strengthen control over the virtual life of their children, as well as inform the police about all such facts, for which immediately appropriate measures will be taken, "the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan concluded.

Volunteers also joined the blocking of dangerous groups. The well-known activist Islam Ugushev on his Facebook page that they managed to close 136 so-called death groups in two weeks.

"We have been working on these groups for two weeks on our own initiative, and there is nothing complicated in the actions. We find these groups in social networks, no matter what, for example," VKontakte ". We copy the link to the group, contact the administration, write to them that we have found malicious groups that distribute very dangerous games for children, throw off links. Network administrations react, close these groups. And I advise you to do the same. No need to panic, no need to post every time and say how awful it is. Yes , this is terrible, it is dangerous, but there is no need to sow panic, "Islam Ugushev addresses the people of Kazakhstan.

Cleaning society from bio-waste

The administrator of dangerous groups, Philip Budeikin, known on social networks as Philip Lis, was arrested in Russia in November last year. Two days before his arrest, the suspect confessed in an interview to reporters that, in fact, he was pushing teenagers to commit suicide. According to him, he cleaned the society of bio-waste and “helped” 17 schoolchildren die.

Philip Budeykin / Photo from livekuban.ru

"There are people, and there is bio-waste. These are those who are of no value to society and bring or will only harm society. I cleaned our society of such people. It began in 2013. Then I created" F57 ". I just created - see I poured shock content there, it started attracting people. In 2014, she was banned. I laughed for a long time when I saw everyone trying to understand what "F57" means. It's simple. F - Philip, my name. 57 - The last digits of my then number. I was thinking about the idea for five years. You can say I was preparing. I was thinking over the concept of the project, specific levels and stages.

According to the administrator of lethal groups, the first "client" was 16-year-old Rina Palenkova, who committed suicide on November 23, 2015.

"The game begins. You need to complete tasks, talk about yourself, communicate. In the course of this communication, it becomes clear who is who. Then I go with the person on Skype, immerse him in a trance and learn some things from his life, after which I accept solution.At some point, you need to push the teenager to ensure that he does not sleep at night.Healthy regime for the child: go to bed at 21.00, get up at 8.00. If the regime is violated, then the psyche becomes more accessible. this subject, you are surprised at how many people are sectarians. I thought there would be a maximum of five people. There was also a guy, a technical student. From a poor incomplete family, his mother beat him, and he himself killed stray dogs in his free time. It was better for all and for him in the first place, "- said the Fox.

Now Budeykin is in a pre-trial detention center / Photo from the site starlife.kg

Now 21-year-old Budeikin is in the remand prison in St. Petersburg. He is accused of driving 15 people to suicide. But despite the fact that the Fox was arrested, his death groups still live, moreover, a virtual movement was organized there - "Free the Fox". In an interview with journalists, Budeikin himself said that he was not afraid of prison, as he believed that he would be able to avoid punishment.

Crazy or "black PR"?

Now Budeikin is being tested for sanity. It is known about the administrator of the lethal groups that he grew up in an incomplete family: mother, grandmother and two brothers. Family relationships were tense. His relatives and the Fox himself were considered rather strange. For the past couple of years, Philip has been interested in information technology and attended trainings in psychology.

By the way, some examinations have already shown that Budeikin is quite adequate. Some experts believe that with the help of his bands, he promoted himself as a musician and sound engineer. The videos of the suicides published in closed groups were nothing more than mere mock-ups.

Whether Budeikin really communicated with adolescents who later committed suicide, or is this just another PR move - the investigation will understand. But the fact remains: after the hype around death groups, the number of participants increased by several thousand people.

It wouldn't be my fault in Kazakhstan

Exactly. Experts believe that if the administrators of the deadly groups were found in our country, they would not be in danger. This is not provided for in the law. There is article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan - "Driving to suicide":

1. Driving a person to suicide or attempted suicide by threats, cruel treatment or systematic humiliation of the victim's human dignity - shall be punishable by restraint of liberty for a term of up to three years or imprisonment for the same term.

2. The same act committed against a person who was financially or otherwise dependent on the perpetrator, - shall be punishable by restraint of liberty for a term of up to five years or imprisonment for the same term.

3. Acts provided for in the first or second part of this Article, committed against a minor, - shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of three to seven years.

The article specifies a way to lead to suicide, which limits law enforcement. From the point of view of the legislator, it is possible to bring a person to suicide only in a limited number of ways: "by threats, cruel treatment or systematic humiliation of the victim's human dignity." However, in this case, the article is not applicable.

"It lacks the norm of" inclinations to suicide. "The article describes a method of driving to suicide, which limits law enforcement. ". Many other methods of driving to suicide are not covered by the norm. Note, no threats, no cruel treatment, no humiliation can be seen in the" death groups ". Therefore, sadly, we will have to wait for a precedent. suicide with “death groups.” Most often, the reforming of consciousness occurs on the basis of the suggestion of new attitudes. This suggestion is carried out in the process of applying hypnotic techniques and techniques of group dynamics. The person does not feel the threat, but becomes a victim of deception and manipulations that force him to make the prescribed choice and react positively on everything that happens to him. But the concept of "psychological violence" is also absent in our legislation, "explains the director of the Association of Centers for the Study of Religions, forensic expert Yulia Denisenko.

They could have been saved

Psychologists are sure: there could be no deaths if the children were helped on time. The persistent opinion that if a person threatens to part with his life, he will not do this, is a myth. Can do! Experts advise at the first signs of similar changes - withdrawal, frequent mood swings, depression, aggressiveness, risky behavior, changes in appetite, sleep patterns and school performance - to take the child to a psychologist or call the republican helpline 150 and not let the situation take its course.

“How many parents allow psychological work with the child? repeatedly voiced suicidal thoughts) ", - says psychologist Natalya Imtosimi.

Meanwhile, experts explain: in the current situation in schools, psychologists are physically unable to identify potentially problem children. It takes a specialist about 6 hours to talk to one student and process his data. And the school has more than one and a half thousand children.

Psychologists do not have time to work with all children / Photo from the site kazradio.kaztrk.kz

“I often see in the comments to this kind of publications:“ Where did the psychologists look at school? ”But those who are outraged do not even realize that the workload of psychologists often exceeds all conceivable norms. In schools with more than 650 children, there should already be two psychologists , and in college (the most risky age) - three! How many educational institutions adhere to these standards, and especially private ones, where individual employers save on everything? " - Natalia Imtosimi asks.

The international organization UNICEF conducted a study in Kazakhstan: how suicide prevention works in the country and which of the regions is the most depressed. The most favorable situation is in the Kyzylorda region, the leader of the unpleasant rating was the East Kazakhstan region. Experts have compared these areas and identified preliminary causes.

"In the Kyzylorda region, the suicide prevention system is very well built and all structures work together. School psychologists promptly diagnose and send children from risk groups to specialized medical institutions. And most importantly, the whole process is controlled by the akimat. This is one of the reasons for the high level of suicide, that is, even if a school psychologist has diagnosed a critical situation, psychiatrists refuse to deal with it, and this situation is not monitored by the authorities in any way, ”explains Svetlana Bogatyryova, project director of the Women’s leadership fund.

“We began to work on the idea of ​​the project in response to a social request. There is an information vacuum regarding this problem - Internet searches give mainly statistics or descriptions of tragic incidents. There are no resources, high-quality literature, publications that would explain what is happening and what is happening The state has developed a comprehensive program for the prevention of suicides, its pilot component has been tested in the Kyzylorda region.However, after analyzing the program together with psychologists, we came to the conclusion that the component on working with parents has not been implemented enough, it needs to be supplemented. This is how the idea of ​​the project came about. It was fully formed as a result of joint work with journalists within the laboratory of media and social innovations, organized by Internews in June last year, "says Svetlana Bogatyreva, project manager.

Psychologists note that the test, like any diagnosis, is not one hundred percent accurate. Rather, it is a reason to talk to the child. However, the test may prompt the parent to seek professional advice.

In two years, almost 7,000 families have been tested / Photo from ichef.bbci.co.uk

In two years, 6856 families have been tested. However, in the past two weeks, the number of requests has increased markedly. Experts attribute this to the promotion of the topic of suicidal groups. Moreover, psychologists note: if previously only depressed children fell into such groups, now it is more like a youth movement.

“I began to analyze these groups since May last year, when there were active publications in the Russian press. Now I noticed such a tendency in their development. similar to a sub-culture, many come out of curiosity to be in a general trend.If a parent notices that the child is in such groups, it is important to discuss this with the teenager in a friendly tone and decide whether to consult a psychologist. press, not blame and not aggravate the situation, "advises Svetlana Bogatyryova.

There is no recipe for how to protect your child from suicide, but psychologists advise parents to talk to their children more often. Also, experts call the mistaken opinion that children who do not attend various circles and who have a lot of free time are more prone to suicide.

"The child's employment and free time have nothing to do with this. The attitude towards suicidal tendencies is related to how the child was brought up from 0 to 7. If there were violations in the formation of attachment between the child and the parent, then it does not matter at all what social level , what is the income, what is the microclimate in the family now. Everything that is sown from 0 to 7 will bear fruit in adolescence, "says psychologist Marina Pashkovskaya.

Psychologists advise parents to visit specialists periodically with their children. For prevention.

Psychologists advise to talk with children more often / Photo from the site otravleniya-yadi.ru

"Teenage children are like a hot wire. They are generally unstable. And in different ways they signal that they want attention and immediately reject this attention. Parents of teenagers are the most difficult. What children to pay attention to? At all! Do not share: that's it. he behaved quietly or he behaved loudly, then you need to pay attention, then you don’t. do not give any warning signs. It is desirable that the parents take courses: what is developmental psychology, what is happening, how is happening, "says psychologist Marina Pashkovskaya.

I've been at Death Group for over a week now. And I'm waiting for tomorrow - 4.20 am on June 1. I am waiting with hundreds of teenagers who are also in these death groups. It is at this hour that a massive game should take place, the exact rules of which no one knows. But judging by the suicidal mood of these "death groups", the consequences of the game can be very serious.

Disguised as a teenage girl, I managed to join several closed suicide groups. Although there are open groups with up to 200 thousand subscribers, and promoting suicide and other cruelty.

My plan was simple - to go to the end the path that the owners of such groups offer to teenagers. Play the game "wake me up at 4.20." Get a personal page with a countdown.

Happened. The game is scheduled for tomorrow. But now I want to show the contents of these groups to all caring people, parents, children. So that we ask ourselves one question now: where is my child? Is everything all right with my acquaintances?

I am 35 years old. I have three children. I am far from a teenager, but even the publications of "death groups" plunged me into a strange state. What can we say about the impact on children?

But it is adolescents, schoolchildren and students who are the main contingent of these groups. And every day they receive in closed groups pictures and videos with a dismembered body, hanging corpses and criminal news, where the victims are children.

The beginning of my game

A hot topic for discussion in it is the most massive "game" in the history of the suicide movement scheduled for June 1 - "Wake me up at 4.20."

These games use the concept of "cutting out" - to commit suicide. Judging by the reviews of other VKontakte users, it is with these games that the path to nowhere begins - the player is added to closed conferences, work is carried out with him, he is assigned a number, some idiotic tasks are given - to cut his hands and solve puzzles, the method of suicide is indicated, and then the countdown begins. A potential suicide is given 50 days for reflection. There are plenty of people willing to “play”. However, everywhere there are menacing comments from adequate users, urging teenagers to think about what is happening.

It took me a long time to get into this game. Several days of searching and trying to join such groups led me to several communities with very ambiguous names: "Nikomunenuzhnenkaya", "Dream Sect", "HYIP", "Hello from the bottom", "Sedative" and so on. After 2-3 hours of studying the content in these groups, I started having headaches.

By the way, the Nikomunenuzhnenkaya group has almost 179 thousand subscribers. Can you imagine the scale of the zombie? And for some reason this public has not yet been blocked.

As soon as I became an active member of more than 60 dubious groups and even announced my readiness to play Wake Me at 4.20, a guy wrote to me in a personal message, who, by his own admission, turned out to be a girl. He asked if I knew about the consequences of the game, warned me that I would be forced to commit suicide. I played along - replied that I decided to play with everyone and thought about some kind of computer toy. The guy-girl disappeared immediately.

It was only later that it dawned on me that I had frightened my first guide into the world of suicide - they were "punching" me. Almost immediately I was expelled from one of the closed groups. The fears were confirmed.

My plan almost fell through - a few days ago, a massive blocking of such suicidal groups took place on the VKontakte social network. Of those 8 that I got into, only two remained active. Yes, and they lurked - the news feed is not updated. It would seem that I have lost touch with the "suicides" ...

But this was not the end of my game. The page of my teenage girl miraculously turned out to be included in two other closed groups, which I did not even ask for. This indirectly proves that the creators of such “death groups”, hiding their activities from law enforcement agencies, are trying to drag their audience around new communities that are instantly created instead of blocked ones.

Eventually, I received a link from one of the surviving suicidal communities — a countdown page. I was given 56 days. So now I might be among those invited to play at 4.20 tomorrow morning.

What do they write in the "death groups"?

The content of the "death groups" is varied in form, but the same in content - from photographs of suicides to videos of real suicides. The uninitiated are invited to go through an educational program on the topic "how best to" cut out ". Etc. To more accurately show the nature of these groups, we publish some of their materials - but only those that are not direct propaganda of violence and suicide. The softest.

Let's start with the fact that in some groups communication is carried out using some kind of symbols. A language similar to Hebrew is often used.

This is the name of one of the closed groups in which I am a member.

The next photo is actively shared by many users, even in open groups. The community “f57 third level” no longer exists, but its “works” are alive.

Active participants in suicidal groups constantly conduct educational programs in the field of solving all problems.

Almost all suicidal groups have in their name the abbreviations # f57, # f58, # f46, #nyapoka, #Morekits, # quiet house, #rinapalenkova. Rina Polenkova at the "whales" is a kind of idol. A girl from Ussuriysk who went under a train in November 2015. Fans of these communities call themselves whales - they associate animals with freedom. These whales fly. This is possibly due to the fact that this species of mammals is one of the few that voluntarily commit suicide. Therefore, all fans of the "sea of ​​whales" and "quiet houses" in their personal pages flicker ambiguous videos with flying whales. And all this accompanied by zombie sounds.

https://youtu.be/tmMKFKGdLdc

In this video, three times in 49 seconds, the logo of the groups of death appears, or an incomprehensible creature in the sky. And the soundtrack, to which even our cat reacted: at first he stared intently at the screen, and then disappeared. If you watch the video in the original, all this may not be noticed.

Now let's compare:

This is the symbolism of "groups of death" - in the center reads IT, below - HELL

This video is freely available in the public group "Quiet House". In addition to this video, there is plenty of other material in the group - for example, photos of killed people.

And here is also a wonderful positive poem about love of life from there:

All this content of the "publics of death" does not bother their audience at all and even causes joyful hysteria. Young people are happy to comment on someone's announcements of intent to commit suicide, wish good luck and ask for a dying selfie.

It all looks wild and scary. But there is still a gap - every day I "fly out" from the groups after they are blocked. The work on cleaning social networks from this garbage is still going on. There are even cases when access to publics was closed only for Kazakhstanis by order of the Communications, Informatization and Information Committee of the Ministry of Investment and Development. But ... Some groups continue to work. And tomorrow there will be game 4.20.

Hello Inga.

Why are teenagers prone to suicide?

Suicide among adolescents is a hot topic. Among other groups of people prone to suicidal tendencies (single, divorced, after the death of loved ones, etc.), it is adolescents who make up the most numerous.

Today there is an "epidemic" of suicidal tendencies among adolescents. In the vast majority of cases, suicide among adolescents is an attempt to get away from the current life situation. The child lacks the wisdom to come to the conclusion that difficulties are constantly occurring and must be experienced. The only correct way out, according to the teenager, is suicide.

Some people question and do not understand this tendency to dramatization, because they do not understand the point of view of a teenager, because a child for the first time in his life is faced with serious problems, the solution of which does not always go without a trace and smoothly.

The main provoking factors that push a child to thoughts of suicide include: conflicts in the family and with peers, lack of support, but few people think about the fact that a child at this stage of development goes through the most difficult stage of growing up. This stage is complicated precisely from the psychological side: a lack of understanding of parents and friends, humiliation and insults, a feeling of loneliness, rejection, misunderstanding. These feelings in adolescents are hypertrophied, intensified, so to speak, because they are prone to excessive dramatization and aggression.

If children feel misunderstood, then it seems to them that the whole world looks at them as outcasts. If parents are scolded for behavior or grades, then it seems to them that the closest people hate them. If friends tease and laugh, then the teenager may think that he is a "white crow", an object for bullying and humiliation. In short, all the feelings of a child during puberty are extremely heightened and hypertrophied.

Against this background, it seems to adolescents that leaving life can be a way out of this situation. In this way, they want to prove to everyone that they are wrong, to get their attention and prove their worth. To parents, peers, to the whole world, through attempts to die, children want to show how noble and heroic their actions can be, how brave and fearless a person was, whom everyone around was considered a loser and an object for ridicule.

Thinking over the scenario of death, the teenager imagines in great detail how everyone will grieve and regret his death, how everything will be pathetic, dramatic and theatrical. Unfortunately, reality is far from the child's idea of ​​death. An important stage in the prevention of adolescent suicide is the stories about some of the physiological nuances of death, which are very far from the beautiful fantasies of adolescents.

What is the role of computer games in adolescent suicide?

Many adolescent subcultures (anime, goths, etc.) literally cause children to be interested in death and idealize it. These subcultures present the departure from life as a beautiful picture, where a teenager is the center of the universe and everyone's attention. This is what all adolescents with psychological difficulties and thoughts of suicide want.

The main danger of computer games in the context of this problem is that heroes can be killed and resurrected as many times as they want. Being in a psychological dependence on computer games, adolescents do not see the line between reality and the virtual world. Children take both victories and defeats of heroes of computer games seriously. Often they even live the life of a virtual hero, completely rejecting reality.

The alternation of life and death in the mind of a child becomes so natural that he ceases to understand that after death there can be no life in reality. If, against this background, thoughts about leaving life arise, then the teenager does not fully understand that it will be impossible to return back.

Sincerely, Natalia.

Marine animal from the order of cetaceans. It is hardly with this sea animal that the name “blue whale” is now associated, because this is the name of one of the games, the ending of which is suicide.

The Internet game, in the style of a quest called "Blue Whale", has been on the lips of almost every teenager in recent weeks. This game is distributed on social networks among teenagers. Everything would be fine, but its final stage should be suicide. One of the last, sensational games - "Blue Whale". A young guy who lives in our city knows about the features of this game not by hearsay. In social a network friend jokingly invited him to take part in the quest. On condition not to show his face and hide his name, he decided to tell us about how he joined the ranks of the blue whales.

Former participant of the game “Blue Whale”: - “I dropped the group, I signed up, waited until the application was accepted, wrote that I was in the game. A curator wrote to me, under the nickname - a sad suicide. "

According to the rules, 50 tasks for every day are included in the game. Scratching a whale with a blade on the wrist, taking a picture and posting a photo on social networks - this is the first task, about each subsequent one, the so-called curator informs the player every night at the same time at 4:20. And so all 50 days. The end is invariably death. “The call to leave this life is not the best option, not for parents, not for teachers, especially for your child, even if all this is perceived as a game. All the more so if the child is really being threatened ”. Threats do start coming in when you try to leave the game without finishing it. Moderators find ways of psychological pressure on the fragile child's psyche.

Former participant of the game “Blue Whale”: - “I said that I left the game with hashtags I wrote against the game. In response, he threatened with physical violence ”.

The media have repeatedly accused that this topic has attracted a lot of unnecessary attention, and thus gives rise to more and more cases of suicide. It is no secret that adolescent suicide is a global problem, and our goal is to warn and explain that prevention is underway. And there were cases when the work done gave positive results.

Prosecutor of Lisakovsk Erkin Taykeshov: “We have no attempts of suicide by minors, as well as completed suicides last year. First of all, this is due to the fact that in the region last year a joint interdepartmental project of the regional prosecutor's office of the akimat, the regional department of internal affairs on the preference of suicide among minors was approved and is currently being implemented, which smoothly grew into a preference for suicide among all age groups of the population. Working groups have been created. Permanently operating groups have been created, which monthly gather to discuss, develop preventive measures in relation to persons, in one way or another, prone to committing suicides ”.

Often, adolescents, whom psychologists call, are socially abandoned, have a tendency to suicide. Parents who are busy with work, everyday life, and do not find time to talk to the child. And in order for a teenager not to engage in such games, you need not take computers and phones. You need to start talking to him. Just talk about how things are at school, with friends and other areas of your child's life. Indeed, it is in search of understanding and support with their problems that they turn to completely unfamiliar people.

Someone drives our children to suicide. Who? What for? And most importantly - how to protect your own child?

An unprecedented process is currently underway in St. Petersburg: an investigation into the case of Philip Lis, the founder and administrator of the so-called "death groups" in social networks. Children who subscribe to these groups receive assignments that end equally scary. Suicide.

Philip Lees is now in custody at the Kresty prison. And, worst of all, he receives hundreds of letters every day from fans of the terrible game he has organized. Letters with words of support. Do you understand? He's a teen idol. Deadly idol.

The game that kills

They put pictures of whales or bodies bleeding on their avatars. They post pictures about self-torture or humiliation. They communicate with hashtags, strange for the uninitiated eye, # quiet house # nyapoka # morekits # I want a game. They spend hours on social media. They write poetry on the pages. For example, such:

“I want to drown in #Morekits

and then get into #Tile House

I want to go home to the stars in the #Milkyway

I so # want a game

find me

give me instructions

give me the number

I'm waiting for you

And then they just go out ... out the window. Or jumping off a bridge. Or veins are cut. Russia has been swept by a wave of teenage suicides amid deadly "games" on the Internet.

One of the death group administrators, Philip Lees, is already in custody. Article - driving to suicide. Investigators work with others. But all this struggle of children, on the contrary, inspires terrible steps: since the beginning of the year, experts have registered a new surge of interest in the murderous game.

Who is responsible

In just one day, about 4 thousand tags, typical of suicidal groups, appear on the network, representatives of the public organization ROCIT sound the alarm. - Such groups are regularly blocked, but new ones appear.

Who needs it and why is still unclear. Experts from the ROCIT organization are sure of one thing: adults work with children - systematically, systematically and clearly, step by step pushing them to the last line. They work with knowledge of their passions and hobbies, using their favorite vocabulary and culture. They work with knowledge of psychology and techniques of suggestion.

It is extremely difficult to catch them in such work, - says the psychologist and criminologist Mikhail Vinogradov. - Often, group administrators even accompany children to the place of suicide. For example, on the roof. They say they will step along with their victims. But, of course, they only pretend. And then, when they are caught, they say that they really wanted to jump down. But at the last moment they got scared and changed their minds.

As a result, it is almost impossible to prove the involvement of administrators in the deaths of children. And they go unpunished.

Moreover, the influence of the organizers of suicidal groups affects not only and not so much children from difficult families.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that most often children from good, outwardly prosperous families take their own lives, - adds Svetlana Agapitova, ombudsman for the protection of children's rights in St. Petersburg. - Therefore, dear parents, be on the alert and find out more often what your children are interested in.

Psychologist Daria Grosheva explains: the guys were literally "caught" in the peculiarities of a transitional age. At this time, the formation of a teenager is taking place, the definition of his identity and interests. And on the desire to be interesting and necessary, which is acutely characteristic of children.

Problems will arise if there is no trust. And here is one way out: to be more interesting than the Internet, more interesting than a computer. The child now desperately needs the attention of adults, even if he does not show it. And adults often make the mistake of thinking that they can step back a little.

9 signs of anxiety ...

Usually an active child is suddenly depressed, not talkative, does not sleep at night.

He began to draw whales or butterflies, spends a lot of time on the Internet, does not participate in the social life of the school.

It goes into complete isolation, does not make contact.

Decreases in academic performance.

Bad habits appear.

He hides his circle of friends from you, it is not clear with whom he communicates.

On the Internet, he visits strange, incomprehensible sites, including those for adults.

... and 5 ways to protect

Many dads and moms think: install a content filter on your computer - and that's the end of it. But this is a delusion.

Content filtering is not always effective, in particular, due to the fact that not all sites are closed access, and social networks, online games, correspondence and other activities of the child are left aside! - they say at the Center for the Protection of Children from Internet Threats.

Therefore, one does not need to be limited to filters. In your best interest:

Achieve complete trust and dialogue on Internet security issues.

Explain that the Internet is not a reliable source of information, but should be trusted by parents, educators and best friends.

To stipulate the rules for working with computers and gadgets, to set time limits, to determine the resources that can and should be visited. Explain that the Internet is primarily a means of development and learning, and only secondary - entertainment and communication. It is advisable to agree that new games and programs will be installed jointly with the parents.

Introduce restrictions on the use of smartphones and tablets. Preschoolers and junior schoolchildren do not need mobile Internet in their daily life.

Deny online communication with unknown people. This measure should be taken in the same way as the prohibition of communication with strangers on the street.

Personal experience

When reading the news about teenage suicides, the first desire is to completely cut off the child's access to the Internet. This, of course, is not an option. In our age of the ubiquitous Wi-Fi. Trying to protect the child, parents are often reinsured. For example, a rumor has appeared that anime lovers are more likely to commit suicide - they are forbidden to watch anime. The child shows interest in Japanese culture - they panic.

I would like to say about this: do not go too far. Do not rush to prohibit everything without understanding it. As the popular joke says, sometimes a banana is just a banana. And anime is just a cartoon. If a teenager is carried away by the animated series "Death Note", it will not kill him.

What nonsense. Death Note is about how cool it is to be smart. About the confrontation between two geniuses, good and evil. And not about suicides at all, ”shrugged 17-year-old Alexandra, who has been a fan of Japanese cartoons and manga since the age of ten (including Death Note. She is still alive).

And remember: the child is more likely to be killed by your own inattention and obsession with work, external problems, and his assessments. On anything, just not on himself.

A child who does not feel abandoned, with whom the parents talk, whom they do not just listen to, but hear, will never have such thoughts, psychologists say.

Communicate more. Trust each other. Appreciate your children and let them know about it.