In the rainy season, momos are delicious. But in this season
momos have been something different. It’s all about CHALLENGE. The people of
Bengal is being challenged by Momo. Adults, teenagers and even children are
receiving challenges from unknown numbers asking them to play a deadly game.
But who is Momo? Well, nobody knows it for certain. Why do they message? What
is the target population? If we go down the timeline, we will find a similar
type of challenge in 2017 as well, the “BLUE WHALE CHALLENGE”.
Why has the world become so “Virtually” challenging? Who is
being targeted for these challenges? Why are they challenged? The answers are
quite complex.
Human nowadays don’t socialize “really” but do it
“virtually”. We connect through Facebook but rarely speak to others. Virtual
media asks us “what is in our mind?” But we rarely ask a friend how they have
been. People share their feelings on virtual media. They cry for help. But alas
the help is also virtual. Sometimes, this information about people and their
feelings becomes the database of these challenges.
People who are already distressed and vulnerable are usually
challenged. Adolescents are frequently targeted too. The challenges promote
“sell harm”. People promoting these challenges motivate their targets to harm
themselves. The victims are unable to bring themselves out of this vicious
circle. What keeps them in this game? It’s the reward that they get. Reward
dependence is characterized as a tendency to respond markedly to signals of
social support, and sentiment. High reward dependence is much related to high
addictive properties. So, the “awards” or social approvals one gets from the
virtual world causes addiction to social media. And from social media,
addiction is carried on to such games, where individuals are unable to quit the
game and cohere to it and follow the instructions.
How to “Challenge” the challenges. Well, it’s always fine
not to accept a challenge. But even if one does accept challenges coming out
become even more difficult. Not just because of the addictive properties. But
sometimes people are blackmailed for dire consequences. People give in easily.
What is the solution to such problems? There isn’t a single
golden rule for it. But let’s try some tricks for it. Let’s socialize but not
just “Virtually”. Let’s smile but not through smileys only. Let’s eat momo but
not challenge it.
-----By
Bidisha Bhattacharya (Clinical Psychologist)
