Decoding the Blue Whale Challenge from Sociological Perspectives

Abstract

We are living in a world characterized by technological advancement and change. Recently there has been a surge in the suicide rates among the teenagers across the world and the cause is attributed to the “Blue Whale Game”. This online game was invented by Philip Budeikin and he justified the self-mutilating nature of the game as an act of cleansing the biological waste of society. India has not been immune from the attack of the Blue Whale Challenge suicide and there has been instances of such suicides or suicide attempts in the cities of Mumbai, Kolkata, and Thiruvananthapuram. As per the Hindustan Times Report (2017), 130 boys and girls across the world were the victims of the Blue Whale Challenge. Therefore, this study attempts to interpret the seemingly ‘individual act’ of suicide from different sociological perspectives namely, the structural functional perspective, conflict theory, symbolic interactionist approach, and postmodern perspectives.