Background: “Blue Whale Challenge”, is a social network phenomenon which has allegedly been claimed to be an online “suicide game” aiming adolescents and young adults. The story of the Blue Whale challenge began with Rina Palenkova, an adolescent from South-eastern Russia who posted a selfie on 22 November 2015, with a black scarf wrapped around her mouth and nose with her middle finger up at the camera looking as if it’s covered with dried blood. The photo’s caption read: “Nya bye” “which in Russian language means“good bye “The next day, she took her own life. Later in May 2016, an article in Russian newspaper reported many suicides among teenagers and linked these to a Russian-based VK social network. Thereafter nearly 130 claims of suicide have been made so far linked to the “Blue whale game” all over the world, including India. Present study was undertaken to assess the impact of this deadly game of “Blue Whale Game” among the adolescent students in Thrissur, Kerala. Material and methods: Present study was a cross sectional study conducted among adolescent students of 06–12 grade of Vidya Vihar Central School, Kakkasery, Thrissur. A total of 189 students were enrolled in the study. Results: Present study revealed that 74.5% of students used internet every day for 2–6 hours. Further, 84.7% of them were willing to take the challenges while 94.2% of them were willing to take the risk. The study brings out a negative impact of social media and internet use on academic performance as well as outdoor activities among the study subjects. Conclusion: The study brings out an urgent need to educate our children about the potential hazards of indiscriminate use of internet and malicious social networking sites.

Keywords: Blue whale Challenge; Social Media; Internet; Suicide.