Suicide is the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily or intentionally. It is the second leading cause of death in young adults in the United States. Suicide has many factors involved such as being bullied which sometimes leads to depression to which extends to what we call “suicide.” Another two factors that can lead to suicide can be the influence of social media or cyber bullying.
Bullying is the “uses of superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants.” Bullying can be done physically or verbally; these two types of bullying are similar in such aspects of having to make others feel insecure which cause them to have low esteem. Unlike the ones being bullied, the bullies get a high esteem when doing this kind of behavior to others around them. I have seen many cases in which people I know have been bullied even including myself. I do not let it get to me, but not everyone’s the same. Not everyone can ignore it and move on.
Such as, my young sister which is in middle school was bullied when she transferred to a new middle school in seventh grade. At first, she was doing fine, making new friends. After a while those friends were not friends as it seemed to be in the beginning. Some factors which my family and I saw was she was not eat much, wanting to be alone, and not wanting to school anymore since she felt sick. This brought us to the conclusion she was being bullied. Some signs of someone being bullied are unexplained injuries, feeling sick, skipping meals or binge eating, difficulty sleeping, not wanting to go to school which makes them lose interest in schoolwork and grades, harming themselves, or feeling helpless or a decrease of self-esteem. Many young kids and adults have a fear of asking for help since the bully can make them feel helpless and if they tell an adult they are seen as being “weak.” It can cause the victim of bullying to feel judged if they tell someone which makes them think that since they are being bullied others would not want to help them since their support do not want to be victims of bullying neither. Handling bullying on your own is something harsh that the victims go through, they tend to not ask for help since they think they are able to solve it.
Many studies show that bullying links to suicidal behaviors such as in “Associations of childhood bullying victimization with lifetime suicidal behaviors among new U.S. Army soldiers.” A study sample of 200 to 300 new soldiers which are commonly young teens were surveyed while completing intake procedures prior to Basic Combat Training. The results were that 12 to 33 year old’s were linked to low prevalence and suicidal behavior. In this survey, they were asked various questions such as having to answer whether they have ever been bullied in school or around the neighborhood and if they had, what type of bullying. This eventually led to the question of whether they have ever thought of the idea of committing suicide based on them being bullied. Those who responded to this question having to have that thought were asked after if they ever attempted doing such act of committing suicide. When answering, if they ever tried to attempt suicide, they said no but instead tried causing harm to themselves to the degree to them dying.
Depression has many factors such as being bullied or the influence of social media, which usually starts in a young adulthood. There has been a study which correlates with social media to depression. Nowadays many young adults have access to a mobile device to use social media anywhere, where ever they go. In “Association Between Social Media Use and Depression Among Young Adults,” show that 20 percent of the time it is used on personal computers and 30 percent of the time online with mobile devices. Social media creates an image or standard on how females and males should look like such as what they should be wearing or what are feminine and masculine things.
By experience, I havw a friend which was very insecure of herself such as her appearance. She would spend most of her time on social media, this is probably something that can make someone very insecure of themselves. Social media could have been a factor which could have contributed to the problem of her being insecure and having the idea to commit suicide. Many people that have experienced being bullied tend to be very insecure which creates the idea of having them to intend to take their life in a flash. Social media is a be a big factor of suicide in a way causing more insecurities onto someone’s live.
Social media can also make others using it into victims of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is similar to bullying but has some differences such as the bullying happens within social media or text messages. Most cyberbullies have to intention to bully others online due to the fact that it is easier for them. Cyberbullying is the extension of the real world in a way of which how people are treated if they are different from the rest of the crowd. MacFarlane states that bullies are typically the popular peers that are aggressive toward others and their target are usually their peer that are socially isolated.
Bullying, cyberbullying, and social media play a great factor in depression. Depression is “feelings of severe despondency and dejection,” which is feeling low such as sadness which can cause someone to lose interest in certain things. Common symptoms that are seen in people that are going through depression are feeling sad, anxious, hopeless, not enjoying things you once liked, sleeping schedule changing or appetite, having difficult thinking, making, decisions, concentrating, remembering things, or thinking or death or suicide.
There is a chain that leads to suicide, it is cause and effect. Bullying, cyberbullying, and social media play a great factor in depression which then goes on to suicide. Some ways to prevent people from committing suicide can be contacting hotline numbers which have great information when dealing with such problem.
Work Cited
- Campbell-Sills, Laura “Associations of childhood bullying victimization with lifetime suicidal behaviors among new U.S. Army Soldiers.” Wiley, 23 January 2017.
- Lin, Lui yi, “ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND DEPRESSION AMONG U.S. YOUNG ADULTS.” DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, 2016.
- MacFarlane, Bronwyn “Cyberbullying and the Gifted: Considerations for Social and Emotional Development.” Gifted Child Today, July 2018.
