The danger of viral challenges: keys to accompany children and adolescents in their digital lives

“After a 12-year-old girl died in the Argentine province of Santa Fe for carrying out a viral challenge, it becomes necessary to reiterate the importance of working together with the whole of society: the State must regulate companies and promote literacy policies media; technology companies must improve their technologies for detecting content that is dangerous for children; and educational institutions, address these issues in class to avoid these tragedies. Fathers and mothers are not the only ones responsible for prevention”, says Marcela Czarny, director of Chicos.net.

In response to the concern of families, the specialist provides essential advice and tools to dialogue with children and adolescents about the danger of certain digital content:

The key is to address risk prevention and self-care in a comprehensive way: help them to detect the signs when something is wrong with them and generate a bond of trust with them so that they can come to us if they need it. With that settled, talking about challenges is just one more step.

Don’t stay on the surface of the problem. Seek to stress these situations to see what they would have done in their place, how they would have acted if they had been friends of the victim, what they would think or say to the parents of the boys who incited this issue.

One of the most important reasons why girls and boys get into these challenges is popularity and not being left out. Let us help them to relativize what it is to be popular, why, for what and at what cost.

It is important to know the existence of these “challenges” and their consequences in order to help boys and girls distinguish when they are facing a fun challenge from when they are facing something that can be dangerous. “Safe challenges circulate a lot on Tik Tok and Reels. They are usually dances, games and other proposals to have fun with a challenge. Dangerous challenges, on the other hand, can result in serious physical injury or permanent damage. Some of the best-known examples were that of Momo or the Blue Whale, which included alarming narratives of self-harm or suicide.they explain from the organization.

There are 4 steps to check if an online challenge is safe or not, which can serve as a starting point to talk with your sons and daughters about this topic and also to reflect on any online content:

1. Stop. Think about what you are looking at.
2. think. It is real? It is safe? Is it harmful? If you are not sure, ask an adult or your friends or look for more information from authoritative sources.
3. I decided. If it can hurt you, don’t do it. It is not worth putting yourself and/or other people at risk.
4. Act. Report it on networks and don’t share it.

The recent research “Analysis of effective prevention educational responses to dangerous online challenges”, promoted by Praesidio Safeguarding and TikTok, in which the Chicos.net Association was consulted, showed that 46% of adolescents asked to receive more information about this topic to build criteria and parameters on the use of digital media. However, in the same research it is observed that adults are afraid to address these issues for fear of generating interest in boys and girls on these issues: 34% of fathers and mothers and 29% of teachers think that It is difficult to talk about the challenges without arousing interest in them in children and adolescents. In turn, 40% of parents and 31% of teachers would not mention a challenge unless the adolescent did so first.

To promote dialogue with the family, Chicos.net launched the #EligeTuForma campaign in 2022 with the aim of raising awareness about the risks and possibilities offered by digital media. Composed of a series of 10 videos for adolescents, the website www.eligetuforma.org has triggers to start conversations with sons and daughters and a didactic guide for teachers on different topics related to the use of the Internet, such as groomingthe dangerous challenges, the cyberbullyinghate speech, screen time, misinformation, the importance of consent and self-esteem.