The Blue Whale game, an alleged online activity that coerces young ‘players’ to take their lives, is causing moral panic. While cases of youths committing suicide while engaged in the ‘game’ have been reported, few seem to have been confirmed. But the panic has led to states and courts attempting to legislate against it, with seemingly little thought being put into how it can actually be ‘banned’. The problem with the anxiety over the ‘game’ is it advertises the very phenomenon it cautions against while also erasing from discourse the more mundane reasons behind youngsters attempting suicide.
In Telangana alone, the past month has seen at least five youngsters commit suicide. The ‘reasons’ attributed—as if mental distress is the product of one factor—have ranged from ragging to corporal punishment. The truth is India’s youth are distressed by schools that are like sweatshops, and parental and social pressures. A widely-quoted 2012 study in The Lancet said 3 per cent of all deaths above the age of 15 were due to suicide. Of these a bulk occurred between the ages of 15 and 29.
However, the response to this problem has been limited. Suicide is preventable but it cannot be achieved by knee-jerk ‘bans’. A multidimensional approach that recognises suicide as a public health problem triggered by an intersection of factors is needed. The response must begin with making mental health support available on a wider scale—even suicide helplines are few in India.
Mental health must be integrated into the public health and accessible at every level, including at government-run schools. Some plans exist on paper but must be pushed into the real world. Half of the suicides, according to The Lancet, were due to consumption of pesticide—the sale of which must be regulated. Mental health must be mainstreamed so that people in distress, whether diagnosed with mental illness or not, can access support and care. These are some interventions that could save lives more effectively than by trying to ban a ‘game’ that may or may not exist as we imagine it to.