- Title: Following deaths, Brazilian parents push back against the “choking game”
- Date: 19th October 2016
- Summary: VARIOUS PHOTOS OF THOMAS DO CARMO WITH HIS FAMILY
- Embargoed: 3rd November 2016 22:36
- Keywords: Brazil choking game deaths Internet
- Location: RIO DE JANEIRO AND SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
- City: RIO DE JANEIRO AND SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA00654O97WJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Following the deaths of several youngsters in Brazil, concerned parents have started campaigning against the so-called "choking game".
The game - a misnomer because of its risks, researchers say - involves putting pressure on the neck with a towel or belt to cut off someone's oxygen supply, then releasing the pressure to give a "high" sensation.
Along with the risk of asphyxiation, experts say the choking game can cause seizures that can lead to brain damage. There have also been reports of kids fainting and falling to the ground causing sometimes fatal head injuries.
Last year, Jane do Carmo's 16-year-old son Thomas died while taking part in the choking game in the bathroom of their family home in Sao Paulo.
Since their son's death, Jane and her family have tried to raise awareness in their community and with the school system regarding the dangers of what youngsters consider a game and a simple, non-threatening way to get a rush or a high.
"It's like it's the drug for the good boys and girls, those who don't want to upset their families. They want to do something that won't hurt or upset anyone. They'll do it in secret, 'nobody will know'. They'll do it with their friends and 'nobody needs to know', they won't be arrested for it," Jane do Carmo told Reuters.
Though there is only limited research regarding the choking game, also known also known as Knock Out, Space Monkey or Flatlining, a 2009 survey of eighth graders in Oregon found one in 16 said they had participated in the challenge.
On Sunday (October 16), a 13-year-old boy died from the practice after allegedly accepting a choking game challenge after losing in an online computers game, bring heightened awareness to the practice in Brazil.
Brazil's G1 website reported the boy was found in front of a computer on the floor of his father's bedroom with a rope around his neck.
The boy, identified as Gustavo Riveiros Detter, was reportedly playing the online computer game League of Legends when his friends dared him to take the challenge.
An 18-year-old student in Rio de Janeiro, Ricardo Queiroz, who plays online games, said he believes young people accept the dangerous challenge as a way to fit in amongst their peers.
"I think it was a challenge that someone made up, a stupid challenge, and everyone challenges each other and so that you're not seen as lesser than the others, people end up doing it to be part of the group of friends," Queiroz said.
While groups of youth have been playing asphyxiation games for generations, researchers say they may be more dangerous and contagious now than they used to be in large part because of visibility over the Internet.
Alessandra Borelli, a digital rights lawyer in Sao Paulo, said kids are passing along tutorials of how to do the challenge on sites like YouTube. Others post videos of themselves doing the choking game and wait to see how many views or likes they'll get.
"We know that the internet has contributed to the dissemination of information of how to do the challenges by videos made by youtubers who are just as young as their viewers are. They are kids; they're adolescents who do straight up tutorials on the Internet. They do challenges, they film the challenges and they anxiously wait to see how many views they'll get. They probably earn something from the views from YouTube itself. That's right, while some people are suffering, others are earning something. There are winners and losers," Borelli said.
After the death of his 16-year-old son, Demetrio Jereissati created the DimiCuida Institute to prevent young people from taking part in the choking game.
The DimiCuida website says its aim is to "preserve the lives of young people" by conducting research and maintaining a "permanent exchange of information with other entities in the world."
Jereissati, who is also the president of the DimiCuida Institute, said it is important for parents to look for warning signs their kids might by taking part in the dangerous practice.
"Adults today don't pay attention and the young people do it. Parents need to look out for certain signs of the practice (the choking game), the most common of which are red eyes, constant headaches, irritability, spending a lot of time closed up in their rooms, marks on their necks and chest - these are signs of youngsters who have done it (the choking game) multiple times, so it's something parents should pay attention to," Jereissati said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 82 media reports of kids dying from playing the choking game from 1995 through 2007 - but experts say that number is likely an underestimate.
If a kid asphyxiates trying to get high alone, the death could look like a suicide, for example.
The DimiCuida Institute sites the CDC study on its website while also advocating for more studies and an expansion of programmes already popping up in the United States, France and South Africa aimed at educating adolescents and teens to the dangers of the practice. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.