“Brincadeira do desmaio”: uma nova moda mortal entre crianças e adolescentes. Características psicofisiológicas, comportamentais e epidemiologia dos ‘jogos de asfixia’

Online extreme challenges putting children at risk: what we know to date

INTRODUCTION

Extreme online challenges consist in taking part in challenges proposed on web and sharing the results in videos posted on social media. The use of social networks is widespread among the very young, giving easy access to potentially dangerous content with consequences on health.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

The aim of this literature review was to describe the most common challenges involving children and adolescents over the last 20 years. We focused on participants features (such as age, sex and psychological background) and health implications. The review included research articles and reviews published between 2000 and 2021. We used Pubmed, Scopus and Web of science as search engines.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

Many types of online challenges emerged from the analysis of the literature. The most common challenges are those that lead to self-harm, which involve acts at risk of choking and challenges that potentially lead to suicide and ingestion of substances. The extreme challenge phenomenon is a public health issue that affects a vulnerable population, as it is young and susceptible to peer pressure influence. Participants often showed problematic personality traits, making them more likely to get involved in these behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

It is necessary for parents, teachers and health workers to be aware of the spread of the online challenges, to improve prevention interventions in the age groups involved.

Prevenção de “brincadeiras perigosas” na internet: experiência da atuação do Instituto DimiCuida em ambientes digitais

Resumo As “brincadeiras perigosas” (“desafios online”) fazem parte da cultura digital, atraindo milhares de crianças e adolescentes e causando severos danos à saúde. Este artigo buscou analisar a experiência do Instituto DimiCuida (IDC), em Fortaleza (CE), ação pioneira de prevenção de desafios online danosos à saúde, que se disseminam em diferentes ambientes da Web 2.0. O estudo teve como objetivos específicos analisar a emergência do Instituto; identificar os principais parceiros envolvidos, os ambientes digitais e analógicos onde atuam; além de entender as estratégias de prevenção desenvolvidas. Trata-se de um estudo de caso baseado em análise documental. O acervo, extraído de diversas plataformas digitais, foi processado com o Atlas Ti e submetido à análise temática. O IDC emerge da ressignificação existencial e política de uma experiência de luto e tem como característica enfatizar alternativas às atividades online, tendo como foco central a escola e seus agentes. Por se tratar de um campo em construção e sem referência precedente de atuação, a prevenção realizada nos ambientes digitais pouco explora a linguagem e recursos da internet, aposta no controle parental e pouco leva em consideração as experiências de corpo e as performances identitárias envolvidas nos desafios.

Prevention of “dangerous games” on the Internet: the experience of the DimiCuida Institute line of action in digital environments

Abstract “Dangerous games” (“online challenges”) are part of the digital culture, attracting thousands of children and adolescents and causing severe damage to their health. This study aimed to analyze the experience of the DimiCuida Institute (DCI) in Fortaleza, state of Ceará, Brazil, a pioneering initiative to prevent online challenges, disseminated in different Web 2.0 environments, which can harm young people’s health. The specific objectives of this study sought to analyze the emergence of the Institute; identify the main partners involved in its network, assess the digital and analog environments in which they operate; and understand the prevention strategies developed. This is a case study based on document analysis. Our data, extracted from several digital platforms, was processed with Atlas Ti and subjected to thematic analysis. The DCI emerges from the existential and political resignification of a bereavement experience and is characterized by emphasizing alternatives to online activities, especially focusing on schools and their agents. Since this is still a field under construction and without previous references for lines of action, the prevention carried out in digital environments scarcely explores the language and resources of the Internet, betting on parental control and scarcely considering the experiences of the body and identity performances involved in the challenges.

Online challenges among children and adolescents: Self-inflicted harm and social media strategies

Challenges are in line with the risk-taking practices frequent in child and youth culture. However, online challenges take on new meanings when mediated by digital sociability. To analyze this phenomenon, 122 challenge videos in Portuguese that had been made by Brazilian children or adolescents were recovered from the YouTube platform, of which 35 were selected and transcribed. Twelve types of challenges were analyzed; all involved potential self-inflicted injuries to participants, with risks ranging from minor to lethal. The discourse analysis led to an interpretation based on the theory of self-image and ethos. Online challenges appear as a powerful communicative resource to reaffirm belonging, recognition, and audience adherence, and so constitute a media strategy adopted by youth in the construction of an Internet-mediated identity in which risk and violence are decisive devices in building a self-image capable of retaining an audience. The enunciator's body sacrifice assumes a bargaining role in this media adherence.

The intensive use of the internet by children and adolescents in the context of COVID-19 and the risks for self-inflicted violence

This essay aimed to discuss the implications of social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the intensive use of the internet among children and adolescents and its possible consequences for the practice of self-inflicted violence. We briefly discussed the anxiogenic potential and the reproduction of a "global fear" that are consolidated with the massive and unmediated exposure of the content consumed, which can increase the vulnerabilities to stress and suicidal ideas. We centered our debate on "recreational" practices, called "challenges" with self-harm power, carried out by teenagers on the YouTube website. This practice has been shown to increase with the social isolation measures. Our reflection on these risks builds on the theoretical perspective of digital sociability, and its implications for the internet-mediated interactions of adolescents.