Archie Battersbee: RIP

[facund]

Yea I think he was attempting a TikTok challenge.

Fair enough, I struggle reconciling that and thus tentatively lean toward suicide.
Your wider point on social media, the internet in general really, rings true. We've yet to see the true scale of it's insidious effects.

 

[Carolina Red]

I had a student a few years ago who “died from the Blackout Challenge”. It’s never really been established, as far as I can tell, if he really did or if he died of suicide and it was called that.

Regarding the Blackout Challenge’s legitimacy, the Rolling Stone actually made a mention of it in an article about TikTok…

“The Blackout Challenge, for instance, far predates TikTok; the numbers regarding how many kids have died from the challenge, as reported by Women’s Health and many other outlets, are actually sourced from a 2008 CDC press release, which started tracking reports of deaths resulting from the challenge (then called “the choking game”) as far back as 1995.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/cultur...-penny-challenge-momo-bogus-hoax-1277018/amp/

 

[The Corinthian]

I had a student a few years ago who “died from the Blackout Challenge”. It’s never really been established, as far as I can tell, if he really did or if he died of suicide and it was called that.

Regarding the Blackout Challenge’s legitimacy, the Rolling Stone actually made a mention of it in an article about TikTok…

“The Blackout Challenge, for instance, far predates TikTok; the numbers regarding how many kids have died from the challenge, as reported by Women’s Health and many other outlets, are actually sourced from a 2008 CDC press release, which started tracking reports of deaths resulting from the challenge (then called “the choking game”) as far back as 1995.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/cultur...-penny-challenge-momo-bogus-hoax-1277018/amp/

Yea it definitely predates TikTok (and social media generally), it's just the virality of content (due to social media) means that something that can lead to danger is so much more harder to contain nowadays.

When I was in school (~16 years ago), we had a variant of this challenge called 'American Dream', that also resulted in people losing consciousness. Although it found its way into our school, the only way it could move to another school is by word of mouth, or a phone call, or meeting up etc. Now this idea can jump from one area to another in a matter of seconds.

 

[Carolina Red]

Yea it definitely predates TikTok (and social media generally), it's just the virality of content (due to social media) means that something that can lead to danger is so much more harder to contain nowadays.

When I was in school (~16 years ago), we had a variant of this challenge called 'American Dream', that also resulted in people losing consciousness. Although it found its way into our school, the only way it could move to another school is by word of mouth, or a phone call, or meeting up etc. Now this idea can jump from one area to another in a matter of seconds.

Yeah it’s wild how that stuff has gone from people whispering about it in their friend group to just broadcast across the internet. Worst part, besides the obvious, is it leaves so much uncertainty. I changed schools a year later, so I don’t know if that kid’s family and friends have ever found out definitively why he died. It’s sad.

 

[Wibble]

The rest of the thread suggests that there's no evidence at all that Archie did any challenge.

Agreed. Seems more likely he killed hinself after a row.

 

[Semper Fudge]

Coroner finds no evidence that Archie was taking part in online challenge.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-63557850

 

[The Corinthian]

Archie Battersbee died in prank gone wrong - coroner

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-64568698.amp

 

[Damien]

Was unlikely to be ruled a suicide due to his age but the contents of his TikTok, the texts with his mother and the voice messages paint the picture.

TikTok challenge has been ruled out:

But we can say for certainty that Archie never videoed or photographed himself to prove that he took part. He never searched the internet for any blackout or online challenges, and never accessed YouTube for challenges, and we can say with certainty that he never communicated with friends about an online blackout challenge

Shame his mother never apologised for what she said about his treatment by the hospital. They did everything they could which the inquest acknowledged.

 

[That'sHernandez]

Doesn't the coroner really only have the evidence provided by his family to go off anyway?

 

[Mr Pigeon]

I hate bumping this thread but this article is literally the main headline on the Beeb right now, and they were complaint in stirring up controversy during the initial tragedy.

Basically Tiktok are being sued because of the blackout challenge and the face of the whole thing is Archie's mum.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20pyn55v79o

Obviously the main premise of the article, and how social media is polluting our kids unabated, is a worthy crusade. But seriously? The mother who blamed the doctors and nurses who were trying to save her kid of actually killing him is now the face of this movement? Especially considering the inquest into his death said there was no evidence he even did the "blackout challenge" that the other kids were said to attempt. It blurs the lines between what's true and what isn't.

Maybe I need to just go and lie down but feck me.