Integr. J. Soc. Sci., 2018, 5 (1), 22-26 22 Integr. J. Soc Sci., 2018, 5(1), 22-26 . Article. INTEGRATED JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Developing a sensitization program on the Blue Whale Challenge for Teachers and Adolescents in India Annie.K.Singh, * V.K. Shanwal Department of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Gautam Buddha University, Greater NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh, India. Received: 22-Decr-2017 Accepted on: 2-Apr-2018 Published on: 7-Mar-2018 ABSTRACT The Blue Whale Challenge has become a topic of discussion presently due to the negative aftereffect it is carrying with it. It is evident from the reports that there has been an increasing number of teenagers who are being trapped into this deadly internet game Blue Whale Challenge. The Google Trends of past 12 months report a sharp increase in the searches related to the blue whale challenge in India. Around 200 suicides have been reported all over the world by the players of this game. It is of seeming importance that there is a need to sensitize schools, teachers, families and parents of adolescent populations on a broader level to understand psychological impact of such games. Internet addiction in adolescent population all over world has come up as an eminent problem in the present scenario. There has been a volatile growth in the use of internet not only in India but also worldwide in the last decade. There were about 42 million active internet users in urban India in 2008 as compared to 5 million in 2000. Keywords: Blue Whale Challenge, Internet Addiction, Gaming Addiction, Teachers Sensitization Introduction The Blue whale challenge poses as a greatest threat to the adolescent population all over the world. It has been estimated as to be the most searched item on google. This life threatening game brings in a hype of mystery and danger in its framework. All over the world, the trackers and authorities are making consistent efforts to break the code of accessibility of this game. These efforts are all going in vain and there is least information available on this particular game (Indo Asian News Service 2017). There is a need to understand the reasons behind the adolescent population falling prey to such gaming addiction (Indo Asian News Service 2017). This paper focuses on analyzing the psychology behind the gaming addiction. It also aims at providing information related to the Blue whale challenge and coins out an approach that would work against such gaming addiction. It aims at highlighting role of teachers at schools and colleges to generate awareness on such games. This review also suggests importance of training teachers and care givers to help the victims and zidentify potential ones to prevent them from engaging into any kind of life threatening and risky gaming addictive behavior. There is a considerable debate on addiction and abuse of Smartphone among adolescents and its consequent impact on their health; not only in a global context, but also specifically in the Indian population. The rate of incidence of internet dependence among adolescents in India has been reflected in many studies. These studies revealed that about 74.5 per cent of adolescent population were found to be moderate to high users of internet. About 0.7 per cent were found to be addicts and 24.8 per cent were possible addicts (news18.com 2017). Easy availability of new media and mobility has paved the way for internet addiction to arise as a potential problem in young people (K. Young 2010).The American Psychiatric Association aimed at including Internet Use Disorder in the appendix of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. As there is a growing research indicating the risk of adolescents being prone of developing internet addiction (Leung and Lee 2012). Internet Addiction Internet addiction as a term was proposed and coined by Dr. Ivan Goldberg in 1995.This term was proposed for pathological compulsive internet use (Davis 2009). Later it was considered as a subset of behaviors that meets the six core component of addiction. These were, tolerance, withdrawal, salience, mood modification, conflict, and relapse (Mark 2000).The term Pathological internet use was accepted later. It was because addiction related more to the dependence on psychoactive substance (R. A. Davis 2001). Excessive internet Annie Khanam Singh Dept. of Psychology and Mental Health. Gautam Buddha University Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. India. Email: annievijaysingh@gmail.com ----------- Cite as: Integr. J. Soc. Sci., 2018, 5(1), 22-26 ©IS Publications IJSS ISSN: 2348-0874 http://pubs.iscience.in/ijss Integrated Journal of Social Sciences