Parents heads UP: the choking game aka "space monkey" read this:

[KyndCulture]

This deadly game is becoming a fad with teens. I didn't know anything about this, I have 2 teenage kids, until my best friend's coworker's 15 yr old son was found dead yesterday morning with a cotton belt wrapped around his neck.


Choking game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The choking game, also known by large number of other names, is not technically a game but a schoolyard activity involving the inducement of unconsciousness or near unconsciousness by restriction of the supply of oxygen to the brain. The activity is traditional and world-wide, passed down for generations in schoolyards, summer camps and neighborhoods. Practitioner demographics are strongly weighted towards juvenile males but includes females and adults of both genders. The activity has been responsible for a large number of juvenile deaths and permanent neurological disabilities almost entirely among the juvenile male cohort. The attractions are manifold: it is done as a dare, it can induce a brief sense of euphoria, it is reported to enhance erotic feelings, it is amusing to some to watch others losing consciousness or behaving erratically, the prospect of an altered state of consciousness, the experience of a brownout or, more recently, copycatting elements of the film Flatliners. It is also free, legal and appears innocuous to those without a proper understanding of the mechanism involved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choking_game


also called
The Fainting Game, Airplaning, America dream game, Black out game, Breath Play, California Choke, California Dreaming, California High, Choke Out, Dream game, Dreaming game, Flatline game, Flat liner, Flatliner game, Funky Chicken, Hyperventilation game, Knockout game, Pass-out game, Passing out game, Natural high, Sleeper Hold, Space cowboy, Space monkey, Suffocation game, Suffocation roulette, Teen choking game, rising sun, High riser, Tingling game and a Rocket Ride.


http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=choking%20game&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wn

PLEASE PASS THE WORD TO OTHER PARENTS!!! This is deadly.

[WinkyDink]

1. "traditional"? For "generations"? Who IS this nutcase writing this??

It's a kinky auto-erotic technique, not a typical teen activity.

[KyndCulture]

3. Read the news articles.

It's becoming a teen activity.

[dogman]

4. I was first made aware of it almost 40 years ago.

I'm sure it was not new then. Another easy high back then was huffing refrigerant, it also had deadly results. A lot of people in their teens seek escape.

[KyndCulture]

5. Yeah I remember it from my youth.

But it seems lots of kids are doing this now for some reason. It's become popular again.

Like I said my best friend's coworkers son was found dead doing this yesterday.

[salin]

11. My condolences to the family of your best friend's coworker.

Any death and loss would be gutwrenchingly hard to deal with. Add the factor of 'totally avoidable' and the horrific loss must be unbearable. My deepest sympathies go out to the family and friends of this boy.

[KyndCulture]

15. My prayers and good thoughts are with them.

They've discovered that many kids are doing this for "the high" since the new school year started.


a really scary thing.

[Greyhound]

2. Darwinism at its finest. n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

6. We Used To Do That All The Time As Kids, 20+ Years Ago.

Didn't do it by tying things around our next though. There were several different ways. Usually it entailed stooping down and taking really deep breaths, then standing up quickly and holding your neck as hard as you could. There was also a version of breathing deeply and then having someone quickly push hard on your chest. In the end, the result was the same: One hell of a headrush and possible fainting.

[Poll_Blind]

12. I was introduced to it about 15 years ago. The method you describe...

...is exactly what my friend showed me: Stooping over, taking deep breaths then standing up quickly and pressing on your own neck. I tried it half-heartedly and was like "Ok, that's pretty much what I expected." I did it once or twice though my friend at the time loved doing it, especially if he'd had a little NightTrain (mmmmm, fortified wine). I remember he did it once, passed out and just clocked his head on a low coffee table right before hitting the floor. He was very tall and so it was quite a sight to see him go down. I remember helping him up, explaining to him that we needed to get into the bathroom because his nose was bleeding and how we both chuckled, drunkenly, at the idiocy.

Ah, mis-spent youth!

I believe it was Jackie Gleason who made the astute observation: "Youth is wasted on the young."

PB

[LiberalArkie]

7. I have never heard of it as a kid.. All we had was the demon weed and beer

Edited to say I am 58 though.

[KyndCulture]

8. I'd rather my kid found weed than this.

[KyndCulture]

9. kick

[true_notes]

10. I used to do this.

I would often Hallucinate and have vivid recollections of my past. Pretty trippy shit until you find out the consequences. I stopped after I urinated all over myself on the school bus, unintentionally of course.

[BlueStorm]

13. I've done this once as an autoerotic asphyxiation thing...

Although it was arousing I will never do this again knowing what he potential damage could do to my brain.

I would much rather smoke weed than do this, at least weed won't kill you.

Blue

[KyndCulture]

14. Didn't seem to be a sex thing with this kid...

his friends told the parents they've all been doing it for "the high" for weeks since the new school year started.

[BlueStorm]

17. I really didn't do it for "the high" but this is really sad...

Kids resorting to dangerous things in order to feel good.

Blue

[KyndCulture]

16. please K and R this post..

For the parents and the kids.

[TheWraith]

18. As far as I know, this is an urban legend that a few people took seriously

And have ended up harming themselves. NOT a widespread phenomenon by any means, it's like the "sex bracelets" claim of awhile back: a couple of incidents gets exaggerated into a massive trend by rumor and hearsay reporting. The irony is that the more reports there are about it, the more clueless people will try it out and end up injuring or killing themselves.

[KyndCulture]

19. well it's apparently growing

in popularity, just from the number of news stories I dug up this morning about it.

[Oilwellian]

20. Uh, it's a nationwide epidemic among children

Has been for decades. I suggest you research the large number of children dying from this game.

A girlfriend of mine lost her 16 year old son because of it.