March 6, 2025
SINGAPORE – Parents have been advised by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to watch over their children, who may attempt trendy online challenges that could be harmful.
One of the challenges mentioned in the March 3 advisory, issued through the Parents Gateway app, is the Blackout Challenge, where people choke themselves with household items until they black out for a few seconds.
The advisory came two days after content creator Runner Kao made an Instagram post slamming the actions of two boys in a clip, one of whom had the other in a chokehold.
Although the post did not include the clip that was shared with the content creator, it contained screengrabs, which showed the boy letting go of his grip only after the other boy had lost consciousness.
The boys, who were seen wearing St Hilda’s Secondary School T-shirts, were playing a “game” where one person chokes the other until they pass out, said the now-deleted post.
Children across the world have died while attempting the Blackout Challenge. In February, the families of four British children sued TikTok after they accused the social media platform of having “flooded them with a seemingly endless stream of harms”, reported the BBC.
Their children had all seemingly attempted the challenge and died in the process.
The MOE advisory called for parents to “play an active role in guiding your children to make safe and responsible decisions about risky online challenges”.
Some tips it outlined for parents included staying abreast of online trends, discussing with their children the potential harms of participating in such challenges, and encouraging their child to speak to trusted adults if they are aware of any friends taking part in these challenges.
The advisory also highlighted the Skull Breaker Challenge, where a person jumps as two others try to kick his legs to make him fall backwards and land head first.
Such challenges may be enticing to children, especially teenagers, who are at an exploratory age and open to taking risks, said clinical psychologist Carol Balhetchet.
“They will want to try and experiment, and then when an accident happens, that’s when they learn the hard way.”
She stressed that besides setting a daily time limit on online usage, there is a need for parents to take a more active role in teaching their children to be more critical of what they see online.
“There is no manual saying where these children should go online, what they should do, and how they should manage things,” Dr Balhetchet said.
“Parents should give them an orientation and teach them to be selective in terms of what they consume online.”
- Aqil Hamzah is a journalist covering breaking news at The Straits Times, with interests in crime and technology.