Warning Students About The Choking Game
In this article in Principal Leadership, Nova Southeastern University professor Ralph Cash presents some alarming statistics on a suffocation game engaged in by increasing numbers of young adolescents. According to a recent survey by the Dylan Blake Foundation for Adolescent Behaviors, 53% of boys (10-14 years old) admitted engaging in the choking game. Of those who had done so, 86% said they played two times a week, and 64% said they had engaged in it when they were alone. Most said they learned about the activity, and did it, at school. Apparently many young adolescents who are not otherwise at risk see this as a harmless, legal way to get high.
This dangerous activity goes by many names: suffocation roulette, the fainting game, space monkey, blackout, the choking game, the pass-out game, flatliner, funky chicken, tingling, the dream game, knock-out, choke trance, ghost, airplaning, the American dream game, and space cowboy. Kids engage in the activity in groups or alone, using belts, hands, plastic bags, school towel dispensers, or hyperventilation to induce unconsciousness, producing a mild rush as they lose consciousness and wake up.
Many kids dont seem to realize how dangerous this activity is. Loss of oxygen is never safe and always causes the death of brain cells, writes Cash. Young people who play suffocation games are at risk for short-term memory loss, hemorrhage and harm to the retina, concussions from falling when unconscious, stroke, seizures, permanent brain damage, coma, and death. In addition, if the participants partner accidentally squeezes a small group of nerve cells in the neck, the participants heart can come to a complete stop. The activity is even more dangerous when performed alone. According to GASP (Games Adolescents Shouldnt Play), nearly 200 children and youths have died engaging in this activity since 2005 and this does not include deaths erroneously attributed to suicide.
Most adolescents are hard-wired to take risks, says Cash. Healthy risks, usually defined as challenges, help adolescents find and define their identity. The challenge for educators and parents is successfully steering kids away from dangerous risks. Cash has these specific recommendations for principals:
- Teach students that suffocation is extremely dangerous and not a game.
- Teach students about refusal skills and how peer pressure can lead them astray.
- Teach staff and parents about the activity, including the slang used to describe it and the websites that may encourage participation.
- Encourage parents to monitor the websites their children browse and generally stay closely involved in their childrens lives so they can pick up warning signs.
- Monitor school bathrooms, closed classrooms, and other locations where students might engage in the activity.
- Rather than trying to eliminate risk-taking entirely, provide students with alternatives for healthy risk-taking, including sports challenges, academic challenges, drama, performances, etc.
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