Why is Youth Suicide Increasing

Bullying has always been a part of childhood movies. There was always a big boy with his posse pushing down a smaller boy. It always seemed so harmless, and a part of the junior high experience. As technology becomes better and social platforms expand, bullying has transformed into something lethal and more noticeable in society. There are numerous lifetime movies and true stories of the effects of bullying and it is now more than ever leading to suicide. Numerous factors such as dysfunctional family life, bullying at school, cyberbullying, and poverty is leading more youth to commit suicide than ever before. There are many factors as to why a younger person contemplates or commits suicide. It is important that in order to decrease and even disintegrate the amount of suicides in adolescents that laws need to be changed, cyberbullying needs to be taken seriously, and children need to be monitored.

The main and most prevalent reason why young people are committing suicide is due to the increase in better technology. Technology is now available at our fingertips. Young people even have codes using emojis, that as adults we would not know much of what they are talking about. It is also much easier to get a hold of people. Literally, friends strangers or stalkers are at your fingertips. In the past , people got bullied in school, but when the school day was over and the students went home, it was over. A young person was not as tormented as they are now. With cyberbullying the torment never stops. Adolescent peer aggression is on the rise due to technology. There have been several high-profile cases involving teenagers taking their own lives in part because of being harassed and mistreated over the internet a phenomenon recently termed as cyberbullicide??” Suicide indirectly or directly influenced by experiences with online aggression (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). Cyberbullicide has been taking the lives of more and more young people. Cyberbullicide is when internet bullying leads to a person taking their own life.

According to Hinduja and Patchin Cyberbullying is known as willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronics devices. This emphasizes that it is repeated, and harmful while also hard to control because people do have free will and free speech especially over the internet. Because app such as Facebook, instagram, and Snapchat are so easily accessible cyberbullying can be hard to control, and hard to pinpoint, until it is too late. Cyberbullying is so easy because of no face to face interactions, so people get very confident and bold, because other do not have to see their face or even know who they are. According to Hinduja Cyberbullying is increasing due to not having to have face to face interactions. 19% of internet users between the ages of 10 and 17 had experienced Cyberbullying; cyberbullying is one of the main causes of increased suicide in youth today.

Suicide is increasing amongst youth because victims never seek help. Young people are now more scared than ever to seek help. When young people are going through depression or anxiety they are not seeking help whether it is because of embarrassment or hopelessness, but either way it can lead down a one way road of suicide. Suicide is killing more adolescents than society thinks. According to the Universal Journal of Education Research victims never usually seek help because of fear, embarrassment, or because they assume adults will not act (Counseling Clients who Experience Cyberbullying,2018). Young people may not be seeking help because many adults and even society as a whole is simply not aware of the lasting effects of bullying. People do not understand that bullying is real and not a harmless normal act but an act that can lead to death of not handled in time. According to The Life and Death Consequences of Cyberbullying 70% of students report seeing frequent bullying online. That means 7 out of ten people are experiencing bullying online and because not all people know how to deal with the effects of bullying or not everyone wants to seek help, it leads to suicide.

With increasing users on social websites, Along with increased anonymity bullying is creasing. half of the suicides committed among young people are related to bullying. There are many warning signs of cyberbullying that if paid attention to can prevent suicide. It is important to notice sudden changes in emotions or actions, when a child starts to avoid social situations especially those that were enjoyed in the past , it can point to a possibility of being cyber bullied, (Prevent Cyber Bullying, 2017). A child may start to act distant, and may not involve themself in the activities they used to, and may even have a sudden change of interest in other things. It is important to also pay attention to if the adolescent is suddenly withdrawing themselves from social media. Sudden deletion from social media can be a huge factor in detecting cyberbullying, depression, and even suicidal thoughts. When social media accounts randomly seem to be deleted or withdrawn, it can be a sign of Cyberbullying. Depression or a loss of interests is also another major sign of Cyberbullying (Prevent Cyber Bullying,2017).

All in all, it is a sad fact that adolescent suicide is occurring, and in order to prevent premature death due to acts that can be stopped or prevented, society needs to become serious about the issue at hand. The main cause of suicide is cyberbullying. Laws need to be added and/or changed to aid in the disturbing cyberbullicide that is going on. Social Media, a main key to cyberbullying needs to be monitored more closely, and dealt with because suicide can be prevented.

Cite this page