It's not every day that I discuss what I read in the media, but this is shocking and I want to voice my opinion about it.
Just to be clear from the beginning, I'm not a TikTok user, have never been and most likely will never be one, but looks like it's inevitable to come across some news about this platform these days. Today I was looking at my feed on X and came across an article by the BC that was shocking to say the least.
The case is not new, it happened in 2022, but regardless, it should never be forgotten.
This is a snippet of the article that shocked me and made me think of what kind of world we are living in and how can things like this happen in the 21st century.
A TikTok executive has said data being sought by a group of parents who believe their children died while attempting a trend they saw on the platform may have been removed.
They are suing TikTok and its parent company Bytedance over the deaths of Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Julian "Jools" Sweeney and Maia Walsh - all aged between 12 and 14.
The lawsuit claims the children died trying the "blackout challenge", in which a person intentionally deprives themselves of oxygen. source
First of all, I can't even begin to imagine what those poor parents are going though, even after 2 years as the pain caused by the loss of a child never goes away, not even after decades. You can live a 100 years and still feel the devastating feeling every single day.
After such a tragedy, I see parents are trying to seek justice in court. I can understand the act because if the platform helped or contributed in any way to these tragic acts to happen, severe measures must be taken to stop further tragedy to happen. Most likely it will give parents some relief, even though it's not going to bring back their children, unfortunately.
Before I go any further, please note, I'm not blaming anyone, but I can't stop thinking, how the hell can such thing happen. It was a blackout challenge, in which a person intentionally deprives themselves of oxygen and all four were 12 and 14 years old.
You must know that most of the products, toys are sold in punctured plastic bags and most of the bags have warnings against suffocation written on them, to avoid exactly these situations. Yet here there were teenagers challenging themselves, playing with fire. The article and the lawsuit mentions four teenagers, but who knows, maybe there were more (in other occasions) and we just don't know about them.
Now comes the question, what pushes them to commit such reckless acts and put their life in danger? I've seen people falling down cliffs, hit by a train, electrocuted, eaten/killed by bears while trying to take a selfie in dangerous situations, to show the world how brave they are.
It is extremely sad to see how much showing off means for some these days. So many are living to fit the mood and the expectation of others and their happiness depends heavily on the likes and/or comments they get on social media platforms.
How do you recover from such an addiction? Do they even realize they are addicted?
Not long ago I spoke to a friend of mine, who has a 9 year old boy, who attended a ski camp for kids his age, during the winter holiday. Getting away from parents at his age is a real event worth celebrating, we all know that, but this camp was not what you think it was. The first thing the supervisors did was collect their cellphones, tablets and what electronic gadgets they had in a bag and put it in a safety box. They were allowed to use them once a day for limited time, to call their parents as well and that was all. They spent most of the time training and playing board games and other fun games, which didn't involve the use of an electronic device, but involved them all.
Many schools are starting to ban cellphone use during school hours, a measure that is met with mixed feelings by parents. It's not easy to control what your kids can or can't access on the internet and you can't isolate them from technology either, but it has to be a healthy balance, mental stability, if you want a happy and balanced kid and avoid such tragedy.
