Game of 72

The “Game of 72” has been catching some attention over the last week or so and with very good reason…it’s ridiculously dangerous. You can follow along the conversation on Twitter and Facebook under the hashtag #GameOf72.

What is the “Game of 72”?

Essentially, children are daring each other to ‘go dark’ for 72 hours. When I first heard about it and saw the connection to Facebook, I didn’t think much of it until I read more about it. To me going dark for 72 hours means I’m taking a long weekend off social media.

To kids, going dark for 72 hours means to make themselves go missing. Not just off social media, but missing from society for three days.

Why?

It’s a game and like all games, there’s an end goal…the more panic you create with your disappearance, the better.

According to Yahoo Parenting, the game originated in Europe with the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl in France and also the suspected disappearance of two girls in England. To date, there are no reported cases in North America but there is a lot of chatter about it.

Read more about the Game of 72 in Yahoo Parenting:  https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/what-is-the-facebook-game-of-72-police-are-118368689912.html

Is this a hoax?

It could be…but it might not be. What is does either way is provides an excellent opportunity for parents to talk to their kids about something like this happening and what would actually happen.

1. Parental panic…kids may not have any idea exactly how the disappearance of their child would crush them.
2. Community concern…there are few things that get the attention of the masses faster than the story of a child missing.
3. Police resources…as time passes and dependant on the circumstances of a reported disappearance massive amounts of police resources will be allocated to the search and may include multiple agencies.
4. Domino impact…as police and community resources get used in a search, other priority events may suffer from a lack of police and volunteers to assist in other areas.
5. Reputation…like the ‘little boy who cried wolf’, a child’s credibility is put under the scrutiny of everyone and when a real emergency arises the second guessing and thoughts of previous events may cloud judgement and trust.
6. Influence…other kids may be tempted to copycat the activity.
7. No do-overs…the Internet is forever. It doesn’t forget and there will always be a digital fingerprint of this kind of activity.

Real or not, you have here a great opportunity to talk to your kids about responsible Internet use and the consequences of the ‘forever’ of the Internet.