WHO OR WHAT IS LURKING ON OUR ADOLESCENTS ?
There is no way back to the old good days when the young people tried to trick their parents and teachers and smuggle a few of cigarettes in the pocket or to simply steal one kiss of their first love. The forgotten gatherings behind the school, hide and seek in the forest or consuming forbidden alcoholic drinks when the adults aren’t around is just a memory, almost like a reflection on the jurassic parc.
Those were innocent attempts to make a fun and behave as those who are already grown up. Modern age and modern teenagers do not know for archaic models of entertainment, they are lost in the digital space, they are addicted on social media and they live on adrenaline. For them, nothing is enough exciting and everything is so boring. While the parents are fighting the battles to survive tax bills and daily costs, their teens are trying to fool the boredom and to feel the risk of walking on the edge, somewhere between life and death. If you make it, you will be a living legend and a social media hero. If you do not make it…then, you will be an urban legend of stupidity.
The society is concerned about the negative influence of social networks on the youth. It is not anymore about the never-ending posting of selfies without knowing yourself or about the clips and videos that no one will really understand, it is about the dark side of the online growing up, online trending and following the all illusions of the imagined menu of being accepted in the club. It is simply about the social predators that abuse technology, absence of family support for wild teen ages and fragile young souls to project the tasks and demands that cause the final destruction.
The problem itself is not just those who could possibly endanger our teenagers by trapping them and abducting them for private or commercial misuse. The problem comes directly from teen groups that could freely endanger individuals among them or turn that individual into the victim. We know what has happened to isolated and condemned teenagers that have committed suicide after they have been for months terrorized by the school colleges on the social media. Not to mention what young people are doing to become popular, some expose their bodies or pose by the animals they killed just for fun. That is a pure evidence of sadism, the seed of future psychopath. So, in this case when we talk about the adolescents, we must count on both factors of disturbance: internal: that comes from teens personally and external, that comes from other subjects, potential abusers.
In 2016, the world has been shocked after the spanish media coverage of the new teen form of having a social fun. The name of the game is SEX ROULETTE, a hazardous new game that occurs on the teenager’s parties. The point of the game is that youngs have unprotected sexual orgies with each others but no one is aware who is HIV carrier among them. Those sexual gatherings have taken a place in Barcelona, Spain and the spanish public has tried all to stop this notorious and bizarre teen ideas. The organizer of the party is inviting the secret HIV carrier but other guests aren’t informed who is that person. After consuming alcohol and drugs, the sexual relations get new color, the taste of risk. They have sex with each others but none there is sure whats happening after that night. Maybe it is a first chapter of AIDS book, maybe it is a luck and simply nothing bad happens.
According to the French radio channel Equinox, there are different types of those parties but the goal is the same- boosting of adrenaline:”The trend, which is apparently practised by people of all sexualities, echoes the equally contentious ‘bugchasing’ movement; where gay men actively pursue the virus for sexual pleasure. This time, however, the rules are more open. For example, while some of these orgies are exclusive only to HIV carriers, others ‘offer blue tablets’ that are supposed to prevent the contraction of the virus. These are non-prescription drugs in Spain and therefore bought on the black market.”
The Spanish doctors are warning that this trend among adolescents can only make things worse because Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic is already treating around 100 HIV carriers a day. With the sex roulette, the city is having a hot issue with the rise of other sexually transmitted diseases: hepatitis C, chlamydia, and gonorrhea. Add to this a fact that Barcelona is a tourist destination, it is to be expected that AIDS and other sexually generated illnesses find very safe journey to the other places, around this globe. The most terrifying is indifference of young Spanish people about being infected by some of the dangerous disease like AIDS is. In the category 15-25-year-olds, 24% are not afraid of the virus. The psychotherapist explains it with the deeper mental problems and soul despair that is powerless to express itself in other way than in controversial and shocking:“Going to sex roulette parties is about the risk, partygoers think the higher the risk, the stronger the thrill.” Among those young people are those who are forgotten and those who are over rated as popular. The first category is trying to fit into the chain of ridiculous situations and the second category is actually the one which is creating the chaos because boredom is not allowed.
The responsibility lies on the busy life we lead. As parents, we do not have many choices but to accept that system has own modus operandi of growing up for our beloved children but that doesn’t mean that we do not need to control the grabbing hands of that system and lucrative nature of the content it offers. Unfortunately, the family cell is destroyed and that is the base of chaotic social schemas we are witnessing nowadays.
The Spanish teenagers are not alone on the road of self-destruction.The Russian youth is also stuck in horrific games that take innocent lives. Have you ever heard of the Blue Whale social movement that encourages teens to commit suicide ? Russia is already known as a country with the highest rate of suicide in the world and rise of such a movement among the youth is sign of the real problem: timeless depression that is rooted in Russian society for years. Just in March 2017, the Blue Whale Wave is linked with 130 teens deaths in Russia and the concern is that will be spread around the Planet very easy.
Bloomberg writes that the name originates from the song Siniy Kit (Blue Whale) of a Russian rock band Lumen:“Why scream / When no one hears / What we’re talking about? And it features a ‘huge blue whale’ that ‘can’t break through the net.’ ” Teens who are damaged by depression, lack of family comfort and social acceptance, usually age 10-14 are hooked into the online universe of secret hashtags and codes that attract them into the darkness. When they get into the net, they can’t go out and they must follow the sinister instruction of the game, created by sick sociopaths and game modellers. They usually have up to 50 tasks to fulfil on their preparation for death. They learn how to hurt themselves and how to contemplate their own suicide. The children that do not want to keep playing the game receive the threats that their parents will be killed and they are forced sometimes to go to the end. One teenager has written:”Sense is lost.End”
One teenage girl who has escaped the online cult, explained to the police that all has started with the social media network ‘Vkontakte’, after you are in, you are given the tasks by the main administrator. It seems we are talking about the cult that promotes the death to teenagers convincing them that there is nothing left for them because they are children of dead generations. However, the russian law enforcement authorities have taken this problem seriously and in June 10, they detected and arrested the mastermind of this sick online movement. Ilya Sidorov is 26 years old and he is a postman with the hidden face of evil. He abused the vulnerability of the youngsters and caused their deaths by arranging the self-destructive tasks and promoting the trend of being in the last cult on the world, forgotten one. Unfortunately, the similar kinds of groups are being reported in the USA and in Europe too. The teenagers are so fragile to be taken by the invisible forces of the Internet that family and friends of potential victims must pay a severe attention. This is a vile world and the mistakes are expensive.
The children may break the rules or have their own way but all they want is communication and feedback. They want to be heard and they want to be seen by their families. They are not the property to be equipped with the ultra-modern technology and luxour clothes. They are human beings that need to be cherished, loved and protected from those who failed to get that, long time ago, by their families.
SAVE THE CHILDREN, REPORT THE ABUSE
OR
GIVE YOUR TIME TO THE ONE IN NEEDS!
SARAH MAX RESEARCH 
This exceedingly poignant and insightful article by Sarah brought to mind a vast array of associated issues and entities; such as the novel entitled ‘The Lord of Flies’ (1954), by the English novelist William Golding (1911-1993), the album ‘Amused to Death’ (1992), by Roger Waters and the play ‘Romeo & Juliet’ (1597), by Master William Shakespeare. All these artistic expressions associated with adolescence in the dysfunctional world of adults.
Arguably, we could exclaim that the present anarchic situation of a certain percentage of First World adolescents (i.e. Sex Roulette and Blue Whale) derives from the cultural revolutions of the 1960s, in North America and Western Europe: there was an explosion of technological advancement after 1945, which was propelled by The Cold War competitiveness. By the 1960s, more and more First World Working Class families had televisions, transistor radios and such devices exposed young minds to a wide spectrum of secular ideas and behaviours. Open adolescent sexuality began to be challenged by such films as ‘Rebel Without A Cause’ (1955) and ‘Peyton Place’ (1957).
The violence of the 1960s (e.g. The Vietnam War, political assassinations, civil rights marches and US-government sponsored terrorism in Latin America) had repercussions through many young people (e.g. undergraduates at US-universities). More and more young people were questioning their parents, their government and their commercial leaders. Some adolescents turned to alcohol and hard drugs. Some committed suicide (there were cult suicides during the 1960s and beyond – cult leader James Jones and his almost 1,000 followers committed mass suicide in 1978, in Guyana; this included children and adolescents).
Have our political and commercial leaders made a better world for humans to be born into? The answer is simple: no! Quite the opposite. As Sarah points out in her excellent article, the present generations of adolescents in various Developed and Developing Countries are ensnared into a malignant world of illusions, negativity and primordial behaviours. Ostensibly, they represent the most mind-controlled youths of human history, thus far; victims of primordial commercial agendas and applications (e.g. intense peer pressure used for marketing products).
The brilliant film ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) provides insights into adolescent prostitution in the year that the US-government was celebrating its 200th-anniversary of ‘independence’ (1776). Adolescent prostitutes have been part of the social fabric of The United States of America since 1776… The excellent film ‘The Whistleblower’ (2010) reveals how international political bodies (e.g. The United Nations) and multinational corporations are involved in sex trafficking in specific countries; with many victims being adolescents.
A First World university study in 2008 was conducted to find out if there were any correlation between sexual content shown in the mainstream media and adolescent pregnancy. The research revealed that adolescent girls who viewed high levels of sexual content were twice as likely to become pregnant within three years, compared to those girls who were not exposed to as much sexual content. In addition, adolescents across the world have the highest rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), when compared to older groups.
Social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google+), as well as e-mail, text messaging, and video chat, have transformed traditional methods of communication by allowing the instantaneous and interactive sharing of information created and controlled by individuals, groups, organizations and governments. An immense quantity of information on the topic of suicide is available on the Internet and via social media, and this can influence suicidal behaviour.
Some online groups have emerged as discussion and support groups for suicidal individuals. Research indicates that providing more online support for suicidal people would be more effective than shutting down pro-suicide websites. Facebook has implemented a direct intervention method.
However, what really needs to be done is to provide young people with a better world: a world in which nefarious things like Sex Roulette and Blue Whale have no progenitor and pretext to exist. Young people need to be able to believe in themselves, in their governments, commercial leaders, parents, respective societies and so on. If we compare Cuban adolescents with their US-counterparts, we find that the Cubans are far less likely to indulge in things like Sex Roulette and Blue Whale, because Cuba lacks the anarchic social environment. Though, as First World-social ills spread across the world, this may very well change…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Sarah, for a great and invaluable article. The adolescent years have never been easy, but in today’s world with failing education system, and the constant distraction of the internet and social media, they have never been more difficult. At the same time, teens are trying to assert their independence. Often, they make very unhealthy decisions. Regardless of where they end up being endangered or victims, it all starts with the lack of one precious thing in raising children, a good parent-child relationship.
A good parent-child relationship consists of love and respect between parents and children. To establish this relationship is the sole responsibility of the parents and they can do so by giving their children unconditional love, which then generates in children love, respect and obedience for the parents. Also, a good communication is needed to establish such good parent-child relationship.
We have given our children all they wish for, including access to the internet and social media, but true love and respect. Our children are the future leaders, so we as parents need to teach them the knowledge and wisdom they will need to be successful, otherwise, someone else will teach how to be failures and losers.
LikeLike
This is news to me to be sure ! Until today, never had I heard of these two perilous and fatal games ! So thank you, Sarah, for both your research and your discussion herein !
The most critical point at hand is the fact that our societies, globally, have mistakenly put the whole emphasis in life on “making more money” and “becoming rich” , as opposed to putting the emphasis on the good old family values that have proven successful over the years ! Sadly, this has been created by the “Absolute Greed” of corporations, as they seek to make more and more money on the backs of the middle class !
The result of the above is that parents are working longer hours, are under constant stress, and no longer have the required time to spend with their children, nor do they have time to supervise them. The combination of those two factors is at the root of this evil !
It is time our society went back to the better values that cherished the family and its values ! In other words, people should be working “normal hours” in order to be able to attend to their children’s emotional needs and to be better parents ! Only then will teenagers stay away from such evil games !
Life is NOT about money !
May all children in the world be safe !
Thank you so much, Sarah, for being indefatigable in your quest for the good of humanity !
LikeLike