Internet and Suicide.
Conrad Henri Roy III (September 12, 1995 – July 13, 2014) was an American who died by suicide at the age of 18 with encouragement from his long-distance girlfriend, 17-year-old Michelle Carter, via text messages. The case was the subject of a notable investigation and involuntary manslaughter trial in Massachusetts, colloquially known as the "texting suicide case". Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter involved scores of text messages, emails, and phone calls recorded between Carter and Roy in the lead up to the latter's death. Roy had seen numerous mental health professionals, and he insisted that he wanted to die. Carter and Roy had both been prescribed psychiatric medication. The case raised complex questions pertaining to the nature and limits of criminal responsibility. Judge Moniz inferred that Carter wanted Conrad dead and that her words coerced him to kill himself.
This case brought up the question of how the use of messaging and a virtual relationship can drive someone to take their lives and who is responsible? Is it the person who is behind the screen or just what the media influences people at low points in their life to do?
Suicide is a considerable public health problem; more than 30 000 suicide deaths in the United States and nearly 1 million suicide deaths worldwide occur every year.
There are several specific ways that social media can increase risk of suicide behavior. Cyber-bullying and cyber harassment, for example, are serious and has become an issue in today's society. Reported results from a survey given to approximately 2000 middle school children that indicated that victims of cyber-bullying were almost 2 times as likely to attempt suicide than those who were not.
The media's influence on suicidal behavior, especially suicide methods used, has been well documented, and social media may possibly increase the risk of the media contagion effect, especially among young people. One example of this would be through, shows, movies, videos, etc. These are only a couple of ways that the internet has influenced suicide. However there are a lot of ways we can use the internet as a way to prevent people from taking their own lives. We can use platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat to bring more positivity instead of negativity.
Luxton, David D, et al. “Social Media and Suicide: a Public Health Perspective.” American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, May 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3477910/#bib14.
I personally think that texting and a virtual relationship cannot be the only factor to driving someone to take their own life. There are multiple things that influence suicide such as depression, anxiety, home life, traumas, etc. In Conrad's life, he had depression and anxiety which were also heightened by his abusive dad. Instead of relying on his family, he relied on Michelle for emotional support and since she was also mentally ill, it was a toxic relationship. I do agree that social media does play a part into increased depression and anxiety and anti-bullying talks should be organized in order to reduce it, especially during middle school.
ReplyDeleteYou're right- there are a multitude of factors besides the Internet which may drive someone to suicide. However, I don't believe that OP was disregarding the impact of those factors: she was merely asserting that social media exacerbates the problem of suicide.
DeleteAnd to add to something else OP mentioned- I've had experience with toxic environments online, and I want to note that some of those environments aren't inherently malicious.
I agree with your views that the pressures on social media are huge influences of teen suicide, although there are so many more factors besides that. I think most people who are in the mindset of killing themselves are isolated/depressed in some way, which is more of an external factor. For example, when people drive themselves into isolation, they are distancing themselves from actual real people.
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