Anyone else think the internet is a large part of why suicide is skyrocketing?

[Final Escape]

Why are white men the most at risk?

Probably because they are being displaced the most in society these days. It's complicated to explain.

 

[ParamitePie]

The Internet has created a generation of mentally stunted, socially isolated, emotionally shallow, and increasingly narcissistic people. The more research that's conducted on the effects of long-term Internet use on the human brain, the worse a mistake it appears we've made in adopting it wholesale. Of course, the same thing was said about television, and it was also true back then.

 

[Johnnythefox]

An example of how the internet should not be used.

[URL="https://sanctioned-suicide.net/threads/tragic-stories.9359/#post-201244"]Tragic stories[/URL]

 

[creationisdeath]

Why are white men the most at risk?

That's a politically loaded question you should probably better research yourself if you dare.

The statistics are abhorrent. You could become a billionaire if you simply bet "it's a white guy" every time a suicide occurs. In some places they're 90% of suicides.

 

[Buddyluv19]

...Take Instagram for example, where people sharing the best moments of their lives makes me want to die.

This is not really funny, but I got a chuckle out of it. It really reminds me of these old phony commercials in the 80s. Paul Anka singing 'the times of your life'. That was the extent of it then. Now, one can get pelted with this stuff day in and day out. I especially sympathize with people who feel outcast because their peers are advertising every piece of good news when they themselves may be struggling.

 

[KadathianStr1d3r]

The internet was a good place once, now it is something abhorrent and abysmally eldritch that will continue to twist the human race into a ravenous race of cybernetic mindless beasts possessing a form of endless writhing tentacle protrusions to act out on instinctual reward thought actions.

Such a thought like this after spending years on the internet makes one yearn for a quick void escape then again so many factors can play into this recent trend too but for one thing I can say for certain is that yes the internet has played a big role in rising suicide rates.

 

[bigj75]

As with everything the person using the object is the one who determines it it's good or bad. The object itself is neither.

 

[19andready]

There is still so much we don't understand about how prolonged exposure to electronic screens and internet use effect the human brain. The vast majority of our history was completely different, and social media in particular I think has led to much of our neuroticism and constant anguish. It also provides prospective ctb'ers instant access to an encyclopedia of methods and how reliable they are. So it's difficult to say if people are more suicidal now then ever before, or if their access and means of carrying it out are simply better. It's likely some combination of the two.

 

[Smilla]

@Volatile

 

[Misanthrope]

@Volatile

Great video.

Brand imprinting on children greatly disturbs me also, and children are being left to watch youtube videos of toys being opened, over and over again on tablets they are left with. It is a very ugly area of exploitation.

 

[throwaway123]

No.

 

[Motherfly]

Is suicide skyrocketing? Or is it just more in the public awareness, less hidden?

My tough also. Im pretty sure its actually decreasing

 

[Johnnythefox]

The words of Tim Berners Lee
*in case anyone doesn't know who he is, he basically created the internet, and receives no money for doing so*
"We demonstrated that the Web had failed instead of served humanity, as it was supposed to have done, and failed in many places," he told me. The increasing centralization of the Web, he says, has "ended up producing—with no deliberate action of the people who designed the platform—a large-scale emergent phenomenon which is anti-human."
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/the-man-who-created-the-world-wide-web-has-some-regrets

 

[ganpres37]

I, a Millennial, have been exposed to information that would've taken a lifetime before the internet to accumulate. It's like aging mentally at an accelerated rate. Mentally, it's like I'm an old man who's been exposed to everything and is just waiting to die.

i absolutely think so. i'd do anything to go back in time and never use a computer.

 

[TAW122]

I think there is definitely a factor. With all the virtue signaling, the constant barrage of negative news and the events around the world, the anti-social aspects of people nowadays compared to decades ago, and more.

In regards to cyberbullying, it wasn't really a thing until I was in High School. During my high school years, even social media was still very new and MySpace was a thing, but only starting to be popular. This was also before Facebook and the AI stuff became a big thing. People for some of the first times in their lives experience far reaching consequences beyond the face to face interactions. The bullying did not just stop when they left campus or went home, but persisted in another dimension that is ever so prevalent in our lives nowadays. The generation after mine (I'm a millennial as well) has it even harder, especially when they are already experiencing cyberbullying at a younger age. The difference is that nowadays people have information almost instantly and are able to do many things that people decades ago would have taken days or weeks or months to do as well as other advancements in their lives.

 

[TheFriendlyGh0st]

The internet represents a good proportion of the reasons I want to ctb. It's hard to get on social media every day and see people producing better artwork, more artwork, and having fun doing things without me. It forces me to realize how isolated I am. Plus the nearly constant search for validation (likes, comments, reblogs, etc) ends up driving me crazy. It's like an addiction. I'm currently taking a much-needed break from my usual social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr) and the absence of that positive reinforcement is one of the hardest parts. As that need fades, though, I'm finding I like life a lot better without my head in those apps all the time.

 

[EmotionlessWanderer]

The internet represents a good proportion of the reasons I want to ctb. It's hard to get on social media every day and see people producing better artwork, more artwork, and having fun doing things without me. It forces me to realize how isolated I am. Plus the nearly constant search for validation (likes, comments, reblogs, etc) ends up driving me crazy. It's like an addiction. I'm currently taking a much-needed break from my usual social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr) and the absence of that positive reinforcement is one of the hardest parts. As that need fades, though, I'm finding I like life a lot better without my head in those apps all the time.

The internet is probably the only reason why I'm still somewhat mentally sane. Real life doesn't have forums like this one where you could vent out your thoughts about suicide or living in general to others without some goody two shoes listening in and either shoving ideals down your throat or calling prevention on your ass.

 

[TheFriendlyGh0st]

The internet is probably the only reason why I'm still somewhat mentally sane. Real life doesn't have forums like this one where you could vent out your thoughts about suicide or living in general to others without some goody two shoes listening in and either shoving ideals down your throat or calling prevention on your ass.

You are absolutely right about that. I had forgotten how much good it has done me to be able to talk to like-minded people online when nobody irl would understand

 

[Motherfly]

Lol! I see all the negatives and effects in the comments yet here we are not attempting to change it because we're addicted. I forgot what it's like to have to go out for interaction. When I do go I end up not enjoying it anyway and can't wait to come back to my prison cell like apartment.

You are absolutely right about that. I had forgotten how much good it has done me to be able to talk to like-minded people online when nobody irl would understand

It separates us.
And then brings us together again.

 

[JJ-NOHOPE]

I wanted to kill myself decades before the internet existed, and tried 4 times.

I still want to kill myself.

 

[Johnnythefox]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dad-girl-who-died-suicide-13894519

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6614255/Why-suicide-clusters-happen.html

 

[JustAboutDone]

Not really related to the OP question but the positive I do get from the internet is when people do band together overnight to raise vast sums of money to help someone in need or more on a local scale, nearly every day someone will pop something on our community FB page needing a lift somewhere or a wheelchair or offering something for free and people respond willingly with kind hearts.

 

[couragetodie]

I would say that the internet definitely is causing an increase in suicide amongst children. I have no statistical evidence to support this but I just don't recall hearing so much about kids killing themselves when I was growing up. This is really sad to me and I fear for the future.

 

[AveryConure]

While I think things like online harassment, social media, and etc. are definitely issues that need to be tackled and discussed, I think how shitty things are for millenials to try to keep a job, being unable to move out no matter what, and how the costs of living have skyrocketed with mental healthcate being near nonexistent is a bigger reason why people are just saying "fuck it" and ctb'ing.

 

[Redt2go]

I wanted to kill myself decades before the internet existed, and tried 4 times.

I still want to kill myself.

When I read this I thought you were trolling or being dramatic. And was gonna be like "what are you 100???" Then I looked online and saw that the internet didn't come out until the 90s lol

 

[Sixfeetunder]

There's a link between social media and suicide in young people.

I also wonder if being able to research methods more easily is also a contributing factor and if there could be some copy cat suicides as well.

 

[Kdawg2018]

Yes, I have heard that they are finding internet/phone/tablet use to be addictive, and young kids are using it. It affects the brain in the same way as cocaine. I think it's probably why we are seeing the young kids hanging, etc, lately, IDK how common kids with suicide was, but I think they are able to look up information that they might not fully understand. If I was a teen when I found this site, I probably wouldn't be writing this right now, that's all I'm saying. Also I found out that social media is fake when I realized I thought people I hadn't talked to in ten years weren't my friends IRL, LOL!

 

[Redt2go]

Yes, I have heard that they are finding internet/phone/tablet use to be addictive, and young kids are using it. It affects the brain in the same way as cocaine. I think it's probably why we are seeing the young kids hanging, etc, lately, IDK how common kids with suicide was, but I think they are able to look up information that they might not fully understand. If I was a teen when I found this site, I probably wouldn't be writing this right now, that's all I'm saying. Also I found out that social media is fake when I realized I thought people I hadn't talked to in ten years weren't my friends IRL, LOL!

Sad :(

 

[Partial-Elf]

I experience both sides of this.

Internet increases suicidality because:

• There's a vicious cycle where I feel depressed and dark, then go to a site that reinforces that darkness. This means that a passing thought can become a months long obsession, especially when I keep getting roped back in by notifications, a constant wealth of new material, and friendships with other users
• Before the internet you could get a book about suicide (historical equivalent of this site) or cadavers (historical equivalent of best gore) or books of erotic photos (historical equivalent of modern internet porn) but those things are just not the same. You would've had to buy them at a physical store or check them out from a library which would be a strong deterrent for many. If you weren't deterred by those social norms, you'd have to deal with being viewed as a weirdo. Within the privacy of the internet you can morph into a pretty weird person without anyone really knowing—assuming you can control the way you present yourself (which I more or less can). Part of this is the "normalizing" effect of being in an online community where very extreme behaviors or beliefs are common, when those same behaviors or beliefs are FAR from typical or acceptable in mainstream culture where most people reside. The discrepancy between the norms in the extreme online communities and mainstream everyday life can cause dissonance if not major outward issues
• The amount of time I spend on the internet reading into obscure topics I find interesting does isolate me somewhat. If I stuck to the script and watched popular tv shows or whatever then I would have more in common with the normies
• As for social media (Facebook specifically as that's basically the only one I use) I think the positives outweigh the negatives for me. Although I do experience strong FOMO at times, Facebook has also connected me with a lot of communities and events that I wouldn't otherwise know about and socializing helps break me out of my sad feels

Internet decreases suicidality because:

• Flip side of the first point: sometimes I get into really positive online communities and inflate myself in a good direction. Examples: learning to manage my money, learning to dress better, learning to decorate interior spaces, learning to brew beer, support in reducing my drinking to a healthy level, how to lift weights, how to design a running program, how to do better in my job, etc. I've learned a ton of new things more cheaply and efficiently than I ever could've otherwise
• It gives me things to read other than books and magazines, which I often find overdone and cumbersome or inauthentic. Internet reading is often much more raw and dynamic and I love the multitude of perspectives. It fights off boredom and provides constant novelty, which my brain seems to crave deeply
• See benefits of Facebook in previous section: it allows me to socialize more irl and connect with more novel events than I could otherwise
• It makes me feel less isolated. There have been lots of times when I could turn to online communities about topics I didn't feel comfortable discussing or exploring irl—things like losing my belief in god, what various drugs did, my possible drinking problem, whether I might or might not have an STI, my intermittent suicidality, and so on

Overall there's no way I would go back and undo my relationship with the internet–the same is true of the human race's relationship with the internet. I can't say that the effects have been more positive than negative though... Nuance

 

[Memento Mori]

Definitely yessss