The social media drinking game, believed to have started in Australia, has been growing in popularity over the last week in New Zealand, with the Neknominations NZ Facebook page amassing over 11,000 followers within a week.
The game requires players to skull an alcoholic beverage, upload it to Facebook and tag two friends to challenge them to do the same. The original description of the game “Neck your drink. Nominate another. Don't break the chain, don't be a d**k”, is being criticised for promoting a dangerous drinking culture through a one-upmanship style to drinking in dangerous quantities and settings.
Photo: Unknown
The social media drinking game gained further notoriety this week after All Black Steven Luatua appearing in a video pouring beer down an unidentified man’s throat. In his apology reported in the Herald Luatua admitted that he "should have dealt with the situation a lot more responsibly."
Concerns are being raised around the long term effects of putting videos of excessive drinking online. "Quite apart from the risk of accident or injury as a result of drinking to excess, there is another aspect to these online drinking games which is the “cybershame” some young people may experience," says Dr Sarah Jarvis in recent article in the Independent.
Next week we’ll be exploring in-depth the topic of alcohol and drug addiction.
