While we try to keep things positive and upbeat here at Dot Complicated, we also strive to keep you in-the-know on trends that may be keeping parents across the nation up at night. Around the world, teens and young adults have found a new way to coerce each other into drinking large quantities of alcohol– through videos on social media sites.

NekNominate involves someone posting a video of themselves drinking a large amount of alcohol in an outrageous way. This could be in the shortest amount of time, wearing a costume, or simply drinking the most they can physically consume. Some of the videos show people drinking out of toilet, drinking in their underwear in a public place, or drinking a cocktail mixed with dead animals, dog food and other nasty things.

Once the feat has been completed, the challenger tags one of their friends in the video or status update to do something even more outrageous. If they refuse, they face public ridicule online. The “game” started in Australia, and quickly jumped to England, where it soon became massively popular. Five young men have already died overseas after drinking deadly concoctions. It’s now gaining ground in the US– I’ve even seen challenge videos on my News Feed.

This trend makes me see red for so many reasons. The dangers of peer pressuring friends to drink is a disturbing trend that has been spotlighted many times, sadly often after a college student or fraternity member passes away from alcohol poisoning. And using social media to perpetrate this lethal behavior is no different than online bullying or bullying in real life. Not to mention that uploading a video of yourself looking like an idiot is a horrible life choice – professionally and personally. Not only will you risk having people you respect (like potential employers!) see it on your profile or shared on another site, but that video also becomes a permanent part of your online identity.

I wanted to share this disturbing game so that parents and mentors can be sure to keep an eye out for this behavior on their children’s social networks. Even if your child hasn’t posted or commented on a video, it’s important to discuss the trend with your children. An easy way to open the conversation without putting them on the spot is to ask if they’ve seen any of their peers participating in or talking about this game. Reinforce the point that participating in any kind of drinking game or peer pressure can have enormous consequences, and putting it on social media only amplifies the damage – your online identity should be a representation of your best self. Think ten times before you participate, and think a hundred times before you post about it.

What do you think? Have you heard of the game?

Posted on 2/23/2014

Written by Liz Wassmann

Comments

comments