A new Britain Facebook challenge is to run away from home for 48 hours. This is a twisted and disturbing way of worrying parents.
Dark Social Media
This is one of the many “challenges” that evokes danger and a dark nature to social media life. They fool parents into thinking they are really kidnapped. Children get points when a concerned family member or citizen posts on Facebook. Parents do not think it is entertaining or positive.
Seeking the Next Challenge
Doing activities for the thrill and taking selfies of a dangerous event is the new world we live in. Worrying family members and causing pain shows no empathy toward other people. Empathy is absent as children are not acting like children but seeking the next dangerous endeavor. Remorse seems to be missing from a child’s mind in the world of social media. Has technology encouraged detachment? On one hand, technology has bridged the world together. On the other hand, it has discouraged realistic human interactions.
“Me” Generation
Absence of Remorse
The thrill of posting these challenges has reached an obsessed culture with “me.” Even if being enraptured with “me” means doing dangerous acts, it will be accomplished leaving others hurt-void of any remorse or concern. In an interview with Belfast Live, one mother whose child participated in the challenge said, “This is a competition and it’s sick. The anxiety it left our family in is unspeakable.”
Other Challenges are Dangerous
Other dangerous acts are the Blue Whale Challenge (children commit suicide) and the Game of 72 (children are missing for 72 hours). These acts are not isolated, as children might think, they involve whole families making everyone frightened and scared. As a culture, scary challenges are cropping up everyday. As a community, more education on Facebook challenges is becoming urgent.
