EVEN if the numbers of causalities may still be low in the Philippines, the Momo Challenge spreading on YouTube and other social media websites should still be taken seriously.
On this age of the internet and smartphones coupled with the busy schedule of parents because of the pressure to make more money, many kids are now being left home in the care of Internet and television as “surrogate nannies” to keep the child entertained.
According to reports by CNN Philippines, the Momo Challenge has spread in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Europe, India, Mexico, and now, the Philippines, since 2018.
The videos and application encourages children and teenagers to participate in “challenges” that first start as tasks such as waking up in the middle of the night, until it already inspires self-harm such as pointing a knife in one’s neck.
The Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) has reported the death of an 11-year-old boy who may have died because of the challenge.
Coupled with cases of depression today and how technology has built walls among people, we never know how these kinds of “challenges,” though they seem to be absurd, can get into the heads of internet users, more so children and teenagers who have yet to mature and acquire awareness.
The DICT already said in a news report that it cannot regulate the apps that have the Momo Challenge and other similar works, since they do not have jurisdiction over Internet operations outside the Country.
At most, they can only apprehend offenses that are cybercrime in nature and to coordinate with social media websites.
Since the length of what the State can do to prevent the youth from consuming such Internet contents and the production of such, the closest people in the children’s lives should now be responsible enough to monitor what kids are actually watching or learning in their TV or phone screens.
The rise of the deadly Momo Challenge now calls parents to never rely their kids to the TV or Internet too much – no matter how busy they are. It is high time we take parenting seriously.
Parents should now involve themselves better in their children’s lives: to monitor how they think, what they are interested in, and given this Internet crises, what they watch.
Bugs on the cyberspace are difficult to exterminate, but what we can do is to watch after children better.
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