In a world where technology dictates everything it’s not surprising that teens spend most of their time on their cellphones going through social media. They post stories about their lives including their grief and sorrows. Often, these cries for help go unnoticed because the people watching are not trained or compassionate enough to notice the red flags. With the growth of the influencer culture where celebrities and famous people have the power to influence others, social media may encourage suicidal thoughts especially since teens see famous people committing suicide. As a result, social media is to blame for many teen suicides due to the significant amount of time spent on social media by teens compared to that with family, loved ones, or any other outside activity.
With the growing popularity of vlogs and forums, some teens use these to research and share suicide methods. A systematic review examining how the internet affects risk for self-harm and suicide in youth found that internet forums discussing self-harm and suicide often focused on execution and techniques (Biddle 370-375). There is little to no regulation of the content provided on these sites thus exposing teens to detrimental content. Between 2007 and 2014, the number of websites that included information on suicide methodology tripled, whereas websites designed to provide support to those contemplating suicide decreased by half (Marchant, Hawton and Stewart). Social media gives rise to exposure to suicidal encouragement. Celebrities and famous people have become influencers promoting desirable behavior and trends, and their lifestyle choices are easily mirrored by teens. However, after a celebrity suicide, the incidence of suicide in the general population increased solely if the death elicited a significant reaction from Twitter users (Ueda, Mori and Sawada). Social media is like a one stop shop for everything suicide for teens and this is worrisome. Given how teens not only have encouragement to commit suicide but the means to do it, there should be stricter regulations and physicians must be allowed access to these troubled teens’ media to combat suicide and potentially help affected teens.
Given the immense number of stressors teens face coupled with their desire for freedom from parents, most teens flock to social media to seek comfort and sympathy. Social media offers them an environment where they are surrounded by peers, hence these platforms become safe havens where they express suicidality as young people who use social media are more likely to communicate their emotional distress online than to an adult or peer (Marchant, Hawton and Stewart). There is less discrimination on social media platforms and the ability to hide one’s identity while seeking suicidal assistance drives more teens to freely express their anger where no one really knows them. As a result of the false sense of safety and lack of judgement social media offers through anonymity, teens are more likely to post online without worrying about someone finding out. One possible solution is to give physicians access to examine these sentiments and perhaps find teens when they are at their lowest which helps to combat the issue of suicide and mental health illness as they have more understanding of the individual’s circumstances.
Offering teens anonymity on social media takes away their accountability as they don’t have to answer to anyone because no one knows who they really are. This obliterates any chance to identify the troubled teens and give them help in time. Sadly, this results in many deaths and suicides. However, through predictive policing police departments throughout the country can predict crime patterns and prevent them from occurring using only people’s data. Adopting the same approach and allowing physicians access to teenagers’ cellphones might equip them to be more proactive in fighting suicide rather than always reacting after the fact. Ren et al. compared public blogs of individuals who committed suicide to the blogs of randomly chosen individuals and found that, among those who committed suicide, their postings contained significantly more negative emotion and language (Ren, Kang and Quan). The signs of distress are there yet no one takes the time to pay attention to these teens. An analysis of Twitter postings revealed that two phrases, “want to die” and “want to commit suicide,” correlated with an increased odds ratio of suicidal ideation, self-harm, suicidal plan, and suicide attempt compared with Twitter users who did not use these phrases (Ren, Kang and Quan). Predicting suicide and signs of distress by monitoring teenagers could bring them help sooner before it’s too late.
However, social media and cellphones aren’t the main cause of mental health issues and suicide. Other significant issues like bullying, relationship problems, past trauma, and chronic mental health suffrage in the family lead people to commit suicide. Professionals advocate people to offer help or listen when someone demonstrates signs of distress, ask if they have a plan in place, and advise them to seek professional help. (Rosenblatt). While it is always helpful to offer someone in distress some help, often it is difficult to notice as most people, especially teens, do well to hide or play down their feelings. Also, most individuals are not equipped or experienced enough to handle situations that would require professionals (Brady, Grabb and Koester). Using social media as a suicide prevention tool is already a common phenomenon as some websites and servers contain pages on suicide prevention and resources for those in crisis. Given how isolated most suicidal people are and how many teens are always by their phones, accessing their history and activity online offers the best chance to see what they are doing, and it puts professionals in a better position to handle the situation. Although physicians gaining access and using social media offers a potential solution to combat this problem of teen suicide, it is an unnecessary cure if the root of the problems is addressed. Without social media there would be lesser attempts as teens wouldn’t be subjected to detrimental content or offered a false sense of freedom. Teens will spend more time with their families and friends who unlike social media people, will be able to notice the red flags including the change in attitude and actions. This offers teens the best opportunity to get the help they need.
Social media is to blame for many teen suicides due to the amount of exposure to negative content it gives to teenagers seeking ways to harm themselves and commit suicide. Despite the many ways physicians and health professionals have come up with to help teens suffering from mental health issues and combat suicide, the number of deaths related to suicide is still on the rise. Social media is to blame for the stressors that push many teens to commit suicide. Instead of blaming it on teenagers and not offering them enough assistance, there needs to be more aggressive policing on social media and better methods to recognize red flags before it’s too late.
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Brady, Linda, et al. "Transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illness." 2024. National Institute of Mental Health. 23 March 2024.
Marchant, Amanda, et al. "A systematic review of the relationship between internet use, self-harm and suicidal behaviour in young people: The good, the bad and the unknown." 16 August 2017. Plos One. 23 March 2024.
Ren, Fuji, Xin Kang and Changqin Quan. "Examining Accumulated Emotional Traits in Suicide Blogs With an Emotion Topic Model." IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics (2015): 1384-1396.
Rosenblatt, Therese. "What Causes Suicidality in Young Adults?" 25 August 2022. Psychology Today. 23 March
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