Suicide and Social Networking Sites

Social networking websites have become an important part of our culture and society. As I was researching this learning product, I became interested in the role that social media can play in the lives of suicidal youths, whether it was positive or negative. I found an article called “Adolescent Suicide Statements on MySpace” by Scottye Cash et al. that explored the role and contribution of social networking sites among adolescents. For example, while social networking sites “may provide ways to stay connected with a network of friends, they may also provide individuals a place to present ideas, feelings, and moods that are uncomfortable to share in-person, including self-harm and suicidal thoughts” (166).

Cash studied the MySpace profiles of youth ages 13-24 and explored the content of available suicidal statements, and states that the “findings from this study can be used to inform health and mental health professionals about how adolescents have used SNSs [social networking sites] to communicate their suicidal thoughts and intentions and possible develop interventions that use this type of technology” (166).

Many popular websites have mechanisms in place to provide information or support. For example:

• Facebook: “if a person types suicide into Facebook’s help field, then a list of suicide prevention hotlines are provided to the user” (173).
• Google: “Google has a slightly different approach where if a person searches on keywords related to suicide the search results page lists as its first item a red telephone, which a phone number to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline” (173).
• Reach Out: has paired with Inspire Foundation USA to create a “social networking page and a website targeted to individuals (13-24) to use to help that person or one of their friends get through a tough time. The ReachOut.com webpage includes fact sheets on mental health issues (e.g., anxiety, depression, eating disorder, and self-harm, drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, family problems, and suicide” (173).

EXAMPLE: Durkheim Project, an organization that calculates the risk of suicide by key words found on social media websites. 

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

1. Development Questions
2. Demographics of Youth Suicide: Gender, Age,Geography, Socioeconomic Status
3. Risk Factors for Suicidal Behavior
4. Warning Signs and Common Myths
5. Exposure to Peer Suicide – Grief
6. Suicide Risk Assessment: Change, Hope,Connection
7. Establishing aConnection: Empathy versus Sympathy
8. Suicide and SocialNetworking SitesYOU ARE HERE!
9. Frameworks: ACommunity Based Approach to Preventing Youth Suicide
10. Suicide Intervention and Prevention in Alberta
11. Works Cited