Teenage suicide
Teenage Suicide & The Mass Media
By
Lara Kaaki
Professor Missan Laycy Stouhi
English 204 – Section 26
February 17th 2014
Teenage suicide has always been a growing issue over the years. According to some statistics, suicide is the third leading cause of death for adolescents (after accidents and homicides) in the US. A teenager commits suicide every 90 minutes because of his or her diminished self-control and inability to suppress inappropriate desires, actions, and emotions. Furthermore, the reported rate of suicide may actually be understated because usually medical personnel hesitate to report suicide as a cause of death. While family problems and depression, academic and social pressure, alcoholism and drug abuse play a fundamental role in teens taking their own lives, portrayals and reports of suicidal behavior in the mass media have also shown negative influences on those who are exposed to such stimuli.
First of all, studies have made it clear to us that the impact of the media on suicide is most likely when “ a method is specified –especially when presented in details- when the story is portrayed dramatically and prominently for example with photographs of the deceased or large headlines” (“Influences of the media on suicide”). We all know that adolescence fosters a type of “adolescent egocentrism” a state of self-absorption in which teens view the world from their own point of view and believe that they are the center of everyone else’s attention. With that being said, most of them often “romanticize adventure and living on the edge” as Chelsea Blues mentioned and so they see suicide as a glamorous tool to escape reality and as a way of getting the attention that was missing in their life. But what does the media have to do with this claim? Well the answer is that it gives those teenagers innovative ideas of how to end their lives to the point where they create a “fantasy of what their
By
Lara Kaaki
Professor Missan Laycy Stouhi
English 204 – Section 26
February 17th 2014
Teenage suicide has always been a growing issue over the years. According to some statistics, suicide is the third leading cause of death for adolescents (after accidents and homicides) in the US. A teenager commits suicide every 90 minutes because of his or her diminished self-control and inability to suppress inappropriate desires, actions, and emotions. Furthermore, the reported rate of suicide may actually be understated because usually medical personnel hesitate to report suicide as a cause of death. While family problems and depression, academic and social pressure, alcoholism and drug abuse play a fundamental role in teens taking their own lives, portrayals and reports of suicidal behavior in the mass media have also shown negative influences on those who are exposed to such stimuli.
First of all, studies have made it clear to us that the impact of the media on suicide is most likely when “ a method is specified –especially when presented in details- when the story is portrayed dramatically and prominently for example with photographs of the deceased or large headlines” (“Influences of the media on suicide”). We all know that adolescence fosters a type of “adolescent egocentrism” a state of self-absorption in which teens view the world from their own point of view and believe that they are the center of everyone else’s attention. With that being said, most of them often “romanticize adventure and living on the edge” as Chelsea Blues mentioned and so they see suicide as a glamorous tool to escape reality and as a way of getting the attention that was missing in their life. But what does the media have to do with this claim? Well the answer is that it gives those teenagers innovative ideas of how to end their lives to the point where they create a “fantasy of what their
Cited: Serani, Deborah. “The Media’s Influence on Suicide.” Psychology Today., 19 June 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. Gould, Madelyn, et al. “Media contagion and suicide among the young.” American Behavioral Scientist May 2003: 1269-1384. ProQuest Central. Web. 16 Feb 2014. Blues, Chelsea. “Suicide and the Media.” teenink.com. 2009. Web. 16 Feb 2014. “Influences of the media on suicide.” NCBI. 14 Dec 2002. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.