Unknominate: One jumps in front of a passing train drinking an unknown drink through a straw, another surfs while downing a beer, another defecates in a glass, which is then filled with beer and drinks (!) another downs his drink and jumps from a bridge into the sea, another climbs a tree drinking from a different drink on each branch. There is no end to the videos that one can find on YouTube under the heading "neknominate”, the new online drinking game [online game] which in recent months has been sweeping across the US and Britain (with reasonable fears that it will also reach our parts...).
Briefly, players are asked to drink an alcoholic drink in one piece while doing something dangerous, videotape this madness and upload it to the Internet (mainly Facebook), after first challenging others two their friends to do the same in less than 24 hours. It is reminiscent of the popular ice bucket challenge, except that instead of bathing with the bucket, the users drink it, while it is not done for some noble cause, as in the other case it was the funding of research into ALS (the rare disease from which the Stephen Hawking). Instead, reports have linked the game to five deaths of people under 30 in England and Ireland, including a London hotel worker who consumed a bottle of white wine, a quarter of a bottle of whiskey, a small bottle of vodka and a can of beer.
Although drinking games, including alcohol consumption, are as old as human beings and alcohol, their dissemination at the time of social networks is almost unchecked. The Neknominate sprang into Australia at the beginning of 2014 and very quickly through Facebook it has switched to countries that record high rates of alcoholism. Almost at the same time, another similar Bajjiu Challenge, in which users are also invited to make their own online appearances, has become popular in China. However, when Facebook was asked not to allow video and general content to be posted with hashtag #neknominate, the platform issued a statement that "we do not tolerate content that is directly harmful, such as bullying, but behavior that some may find offensive or controversial is not necessarily against our rules." However, they invited users not to hesitate to report posts on the platform that they consider to be inappropriate.
According to experts, the "disguise" of alcohol use in play can have very negative effects, especially among the young population. The data on the problematic consumption of the substance among children in our country are already worrying. According to the WHO, 30% of adolescents in Greece δηλώνει ότι πίνει κάποιο αλκοολούχο ποτό μία ή δύο φορές την εβδομάδα. Ο μέσος όρος ηλικίας για τα αγόρια που ξεκινάνε να πίνουν είναι τα 11 έτη και για τα girlat 13, while around 20% of teenagers admit to having gotten drunk more than three times in one year. In all three of the leading causes of death among 14-24 year olds, which are car accidents, suicides and murders, alcohol is highly involved.
The highest rates of frequent drinking (≥10 times) last month in pupils (13-19 years) are observed in the prefectures of Kastoria, Pieria, Evros, Halkidiki, Serres and Lesvos.
Source: kathimerini.gr
