Internet “Death Groups” in the Online Culture

Abstract

The conditions of online culture cause a shift in the following crucial spheres of human life: communication, creativity, leisure, and art. This creates a complex of life-threatening and human safety problems, including the existential. The object of the study is “death groups” (“Blue whale,” “Wake me up at 4.20,” and others) that have become popular in social networks in recent years calling on young people to commit suicide. Within the Eastern European countries, such communities became numerous after 2015, took many lives, and caused a number of lawsuits. This article presents the characteristics of new existential problems in the conditions of e-culture, including those related to virtual escapism and adolescent suicide, through participation in “death groups,” and analyzes the mechanism of how the youth shifts the values of reality and game, life, and death. Hence, the greatest risks leading to escapism, asocial life, suicidal moods, and actions have been allocated.