I'm not a psychologist but....

I think the media has absolutely crossed the line (shock) and is over-saturating the news with stories about teen suicide. Its one thing to educate young people about depression and suicide, and entirely another to hype it. Teen suicide is getting hyped- especially in terms of the presence of depression and suicidal thoughts on the internet. Teens aren't just getting abused (lets call "bullying" what it really is) online, they are using the internet as a means to romanticize, and poeticize their depression and depressed thoughts. Depression is a disease that prevents you (among other things) from thinking well, rationally, logically. Several teens' last and intentionally last action was to tweet a suicide message. How screwed up is that? Not only are these deaths tragic (and obviously preventable since some of these tweeting teens spend HOURS or DAYS talking about it on their social media accounts... why are their friends not calling 911 or their parents?!!?) but they are intentionally publicized. To the mind of a young person, and especially a young person suffering from depression, this is a way to end their life in a way that rings true with the literary tragedy of their favorite bands and teen romances. The media saturation only underscores the distorted idea that suicide is a common and acceptable reaction to lifes sometimes intense struggles.

The media needs to stop sensationalizing this act, which is the most extreme symptom of a mental ILLNESS and bring it back to the place where it is an extreme, terrible, tragic and uncommon act of severe desperation and sadness. Social media needs to be monitored more closely so that when someone is saying FOR DAYS that they are planning to kill themselves, someone (it should be their friends who are, on twitter, begging the suicidal person to stop (instead of calling for help or taking action), or their parents) can take it seriously and do something to help. TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER. What ever happened to that idea? Take care of each other. It is your responsibility. You have partial ownership of the good of your peers and your community (whether it exists purely in the cyber realm or not).

Teens have been bullied and have been making the decision to end their lives forever, this is not new, but it is apparently (and very sadly) a sexy media buzz term at the time. I honestly feel (without a medical degree) that this, and the over-use and lack of understanding of social media by teenagers, is exacerbating this societal ill. The abuse by peers needs to be put to a stop, but so does the hyping of suicide. Its not a trend, its not poetic, its not glorious.

Again, I'm not a psychologist, but........