Whether or not all of the mania around the Charlie Charlie Challenge is true or not, what it clearly demonstrates is how open and vulnerable we all are to the indifferent, stupid, downright vile and yes, the demonic that can invade our space through the Internet.
In a matter of days, one game a couple of persons watched on the Internet spread like wildfire and created massive confusion across Barbados. Most of us think about the Internet and social media as this wonderful space for information and an easy way to get connected.
We often forget that no information or space is neutral and therefore it can be potentially perverted and, in most cases, used with malicious intent. If we are not critical users we open ourselves to becoming victims of those who understand the power of open minds.
I completely agree with those who suggest that this will not be the last thing or event that will filter through the Internet and create confusion. More importantly though, those with malicious intent would have learned that the seemingly benign, such as a game, is a sure-fire way to easily infiltrate and therefore will use this strategy again.
Those of us with sufficiently critical minds should begin to question how easy it was for a game that played on our natural curiosity allowed our children to become victims.
Why was the effect so seemingly great on the children, and what are the long-term consequences if Charlie, based on the suggestions, decides that someone is not to leave the game. If all of the rumours about what happened are true, those of us who understand the demonic would know that the story does not end there. This is a matter for pray and deliverance. Enough said on that.
A large part of this I blame on the overly permissive and often too public world that we live in. Everyone has a right to do want they want, when they want and how they want to do it. More importantly, every right has the right to be mainstreamed no matters who it offends. Through the Internet these rights are given free reign, people can easily post what they want and disguise intentions under the cloak of anonymity.
On the other end, everyone wants the right of access, children have facebook accounts, everyone has an Ipad, tablet, smartphone – whatever is available – and we completely absorb 90 per cent of the junk that is available.
I do not have enough fingers or toes to count the number of people that I know who have admitted that they feel they are addicted to a particular game whether it is farming, building or whatever else or people who have said they find themselves spending too much time on the Internet just surfing not looking for anything in particular, but just looking to see what is out there. On face value, it is completely innocent; just entertainment. The Charlie Charlie Challenge is entertainment.
So yes, I am very much a sceptic and I expect the emails that will tell me I am wrong to blame the Internet and tell me about all of the benefits that the Internet brings – the access to new information that was not available before, the ability to do research and to be connected. Yea, Yea, I accept all of that without argument. I am a user of those benefits.
My point is simple; we need to be discerning users and not make assumptions about what is given. More importantly, we need to teach our children to be discerning users. More importantly, where they cannot do this for themselves we need to do it for them. I am an old-fashioned parent so I do not buy into the overly permissive culture.
I need to see and know everything; no erasing of Internet history, no walking around with headphones and use only within the public family space. If we think that we are doing our children and ourselves a favour by allowing them and ourselves to become overly exposed to what is available over the Internet, the Charlie Charlie Challenge at the very minimum should make us think again.
Shantal Munroe-Knight is a development specialist executive coordinator at the Caribbean Policy Development Centre. Email [email protected]
