Social Media and Teen Suicides

Teen suicides are on the rise in the United States for teens, especially girls. The suicide rate for young women ages 15 to 19 doubled between 2007 and 2015. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Furthermore, that numbers have worsened for both genders. Bullying in school for teens is something that has been happening for ages now, but now combining bullying and social media is destroying teens of both sexes. Because bullying in school is already hard for students but adding social media to the mix means that some teens have now nowhere to turn to which leads to them to depression and even suicides for others. As social networking sites grow in popularity there are more people that are at risk of being in danger and committing suicide or getting depressed, because social networks gave a free access for everyone young and old to do whatever they like without thinking about the consequences.

The rise of teens suicide has risen due to bullying and the pressure to bully others on social media, it has taken turns for the worse as cyberbullying has increased and teens do not know how to handle it. As we all know bullying has been around for decades but social media sites allow bullies to take it to a new level of victimizing the victim. Now a day's people seem to post everything on these social networks. Most online predators are not whom they say they are, they usually have a fake identity. In our society, with the kind of technology we have young people and even predators have an easier way to get on social networks no matter where they are because of all the advanced technology we have. Parents and school officials are not aware of the things that occur online. But yet again most of them think or act like they know everything their kids do online. There are many dangerous strangers online that teens are not aware of. Without supervising the youth, they'll most likely end up in a bad situation. Most of these parents and educators think that the companies who run the websites will make sure that their kids are safe which is not necessarily true.

There have been many research papers that show that cyberbullying causes depression which leads to suicides. In the article, Social Media Cyber Bullying Linked to Teen Depression, by Stephanie Pappas. According to Pappas, there have been many high profile cases of teen suicides who got bullied in a lot of different social media sites, which is really difficult for teens who are being bullied to handle. There are some sites that are more vicious than others especially ones that are anonymous. For instance, In 2013, for example, a spate of suicides was linked to the social network Ask.FM, where users can ask each other questions anonymously. The deaths of teens who had been subject to abuse on the site prompted Ask.fm. (Social Media Cyber Bullying Linked to Teen Depression). This site is mainly created so that no one knows who posted what which is taken out of context for bullies who use it wrongly by name calling and abusing people because he or she miss use it as well as bully people and since it is anonymous it makes it harder for the victims to come back from it. The people who usually use these social media sites are teenagers. Although there is no link between teen deaths and social media it is true that one of the main reason that people are being victimized and they are in a cycle of madness.

We as a society need to start understanding and taking action when it comes young teens struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts due to social media and cyberbullying. As a member of society, we need to understand that these teens are not only asking for help but they desperately need it and it is our duty to find answers for them. Even if it is not the solution that is fine, what they need is for one adult to say I see what you are facing and I am here to listen and help you get helped and get justice. The best way to get involved in the teens' world is to comfort them and let them know that it is not their fault that in fact a lot of people get bullied and that the parent is willing to help find resources for those teens. Moreover, parents can do more by letting the schools know what is happening so that schools can get involved in these talks as well. Letting students know that it is not acceptable to bully someone and even offer and teach the youth the effects of bullying someone so that it can help them to not bully anyone. In the article, Cyberbullying (Hirsch) mentions that it is wise to not encourage teens to not respond to such things because doing so just fuels the fire and makes the situation worse. But do keep the threatening messages, pictures, and texts, as these can be used as evidence with the bully's parents. She mentions how these events could help the teen get justice (Hirsch).

Now that we know and see that some teens are getting cyberbullied on social media, the question becomes how can we help them? And although there is only so much that school official could do since the bullying is not done in schools but rather on social media, there can still be a solution to the problem of helping the victimize teens who unfortunately have to go through this every second of their lives. According to this article, The best way to help and prevent these problems is to encourage other teens to get involved. We need to make sure that all students are aware that no matter its form, all bullying is wrong and should not be tolerated, and that we need to promote awareness. A good example this article discusses is that. One other key message is to encourage a telling atmosphere so that pupils will report cyberbullying where they see it ( Dealing with Cyberbullying in Schools: How to Respond.).

Finally, we know that cyberbullying is not something new in fact is has been around for a very long time but times are changing due to technology. At one point, teens used to only get bullied at school so they had an escape once school was over but that is not the case today because of social media and a lot of vicious people take advantage of that. The ability to bully someone anytime you want became a reality to some people. Therefore it has made them feel like they have nowhere to turn to accept putting an end to it all. Now the problem is that we see what this is doing to young teens because there have been many reports of teens who just couldn't do it anymore which resulted in them taking their own lives.

Social media has become a big impact on people's lives but sometimes people use it for the wrong reasons and without thinking about what it might do to other people, we need to know that people's actions have to think about the consequences. If we want to see a change we have to be in front of it and find solutions before something unforgettable takes action.

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