These are the times of the internet where being online and going viral is every netizen's waking dream.

While we get the fascination behind the WWW, given that it is home to some of the most awesomesauce, exotic and enlightening content from around the world and across the board, yet we fail to fathom the unrestrained dependence people exhibit towards all things “trending” or “viral”. How acceptable are such forms of validations, be it in the form of likes or views?

It wasn't long ago since the trend of undertaking viral social media challenges began, with some of the extremely popular ones being the Ice Bucket Challenge, the Mannequin Challenge and more recently the Kiki Challenge made popular by numerous celebs. While these “challenges” started out as means of harmless entertainment, the ungoverned cyber world has allowed other freaky challenges to make their way into our lives via phones and laptops.

© YouTube

One such challenge that has surfaced most recently is called the Momo Challenge and it will remind you of the Blue Whale Challenge that troubled the nation not so long ago. Targeted at unsuspecting young minds, this challenge came into the limelight after a 12-year old Argentinian girl allegedly killed herself over the 'challenge'. It works pretty similarly to the Blue Whale Challenge as well - people are lured and given instructions to follow, failing which they are blackmailed and threatened with dire consequences.

© YouTube

Mexican Computer Crime Investigation Unit has reported that the challenge started in a Facebook group wherein members were 'challenged' to contact a particular number. Once the contact was established they were ordered to follow instructions and if they refused, they were threatened and sent violent and disturbing images.

With Japanese artist Midori Hayashi's artwork 'Mother Bird' as its avatar, the Momo accounts have been found to be connected to three numbers in Mexico, Columbia and Japan. A number of alleged Momo cases have been reported from France, the US, Germany and Mexico. Though there haven't been any reports of the challenge having reached the Indian subcontinent, but with a growing number of Indians subscribing to mobile data services and getting online, the possibility of the challenge reaching India might not be too far into the future.

© Twitter

Though the challenge is targeted at teens but there is no denying that a lot of 'adventurous' souls out there might also feel the urge to give this a go, even if simply for the “kicks”. 

What we need to do as a society is to accept that the challenge might hit the screens in India any day now and we need to be prepared. Talking about it and cautioning the youngsters around us is a no brainer but the next best thing is to have open conversations around cyber bullying and mindlessly giving in to every other online challenge that surfaces, either for the likes or the kicks you might expect to get out of them.

This Momo Challenge surely isn't as fun as the name might suggest and it will do us a great deal of good to give this one a miss.