The “comma game” consists of giving your comrades two sharp blows to the back of the neck. It is inspired by a technical football move and has gone viral on TikTok. This is extremely dangerous for the neck and can lead to serious injury.
TikTok and schoolyards, a dangerous new game. On social networks and in schoolyards, dangerous games follow one another. After the “scarf game” or the “scar challenge”, it is now the “comma game” which worries parents.
The “comma game” consists of giving two sharp blows to the back of the neck, in opposite directions. It is inspired by a technical gesture used in football. The player fakes an outside hook with the outside of his foot, but ultimately pulls the ball toward the inside of his foot to change its trajectory. In the “comma game”, the hands are used as feet to make the head move like a ball. To do this, two sharp, opposing blows are given to the back of the head or neck, usually by surprise.
TikTok propelled the popularity of this game
On TikTok, hundreds of videos show teenagers carrying out this violent gesture on a classmate, a little brother or a friend. These videos are viewed several thousand times. The phenomenon has existed since long before the arrival of smartphones and TikTok. Some videos were published on the platform several months ago, but it was the start of the school year that really popularized this movement according to the Figaro.
This game is extremely dangerous according to the president of the French Union of Osteopaths (SFDO) Philippe Sterlingot to Le Figaro: “It is a stupid and unnecessarily dangerous game. The neck is the junction between the brain, the mouth and the rest of the body. Arterial, venous, digestive pipes and the spinal cord pass through it. Doing this gesture can override the body’s natural defense systems and the weight of the head can create a movement that exceeds the normal capabilities of the joints.”
What is the reaction of National Education?
On September 15, the mother of a student at the Élisabeth and Robert Badinter college, located in Angresse (Landes), reported that her son had been the victim of a dangerous “game”. The school took the report seriously and responded quickly. The next day, a message was sent to all parents of students via Pronote messaging.
The following Monday, the head of the establishment spoke in the classes to remind people of the dangerousness of this “game” and to invite the student victims to come forward to the educational staff. A note was also sent to all school heads in the Aquitaine region to alert them to this phenomenon and call on them to be vigilant.
The government must present an interministerial plan against school bullying on Wednesday September 27. This policy “is absolutely essential” according to Emmanuel Macron, during a television interview on Sunday September 24.