By: Gina Pedroza
Since social media has become a phenomenom there has been a significant change in suicide rates for the worse. Websites like Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. are known to be some of the most common sites/applications to have a negative impact on young teens and some adults.
According to the New York post from the years, 2009 and 2015 kids ages 13 to 18; rates of depression increased by more than 60%. This study shows that the internet and social media can influence suicidal behavior and could be harmful to teens and young teens.
But what isn’t being talked about as much as it should, is how much the internet and the media misrepresent mental health and the people that suffer from it.
“The demographic that is mostly affected by the misinformation being spread about what some people think mental health is, online, are tweens and teens,'' says Jenniffer Pastrana a high school counselor at Yerba Buena High School.
Jenniffer later explains that people tend to make misconceptions about people that suffer from depression and anxiety and may be seen as “weak.”
Upon being interviewed, Chelsea Marquez a sophomore student from Yerba Buena High School, said, “People tend to think that depression is easy to deal with. The feeling of depression is worse than just being just ‘sad’. There’s a big difference between being sad and being clinically depressed.”
This leads to the belief of something is wrong in tweens and teens’ lives. And I wanted to figure out what was going on between these very young adults. What was one of the main reasons for the increase in depression and suicide rates?
When I asked the people I was interviewing if maybe they thought that the internet was a factor of the rising depression rates, Chelsea and the anonymous student seemed to really think that the internet was one of the biggest factors of their own depression.
This leads me to become much more curious than I already was. I was glad that the overall topic of mental health was less of a stigma and was becoming more and more easy to talk about without feeling shame, but when there’s the internet, things are a bit different and could be taken out of context or an audience could be misinformed about the effects of depression.
A question came to me when I began thinking about the effects that the internet has on tweens, teens and young adults. Are social media influencers using mental illness to attract an audience by misrepresenting the issues and if they are what is the right way to do it?
When asking Jenniffer, she didn’t know much about social media influencers, “It’s great if it’s done in an appropriate way that is not just trying to attract attention and if it’s also giving correct information. Some people just tend to spout out their opinion instead of fact. As long as it’s factual then I think that it’s fine that they spread awareness.
What I was very surprised to see while doing research is seeing people use mental illness as a fashion statement or as they (people on the internet call it): sad boy or sad girl aesthetic. I felt a bit conflicted because I never thought that I was going to see mental illness portrayed as trendy.
“It’s strange to see people perceive it as a vibe, cute and quirky,“ Chelsea says.
Even though I found it quite disturbing that people were making merchandise off of having a mental disorder there were still a few things that weren’t making sense. Why was there a significant peak in mental illness and suicide rates in 2017? Then I remembered that 13 Reasons Why debuted that year.
13 reasons why is my biggest motivation for writing this piece, there has been research since the show has come out in 2017 that there has been a significant increase in suicide rates in tweens and teens. Some have even tried to replicate what the lead role did: Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford).
When I looked into the show a little more and did more research, I found that a lot of people had different opinions of how the show portrayed what mental illness can do to a person if not treated correctly or abandoned.
My anonymous interviewee suggested that it was a good idea to make it graphic and realistic, but Chelsea thought that it was a bit too much and was definitely very triggering for those going through a rough time.
But Jennifer was more in between when it came to her answer, “I think that it shows the reality of what happens behind the scenes with someone that is going through that, but I also think that it could influence those who are vulnerable and see these things as good ideas (cutting, committing suicide) and I think that she shouldn’t have made them feel at fault for what she was going through. The word “reason” is not the right term, a better word for it would be impact or influence.”
With this being said, I had to dig deeper and find out if mental illness was just a cash grab for artists, singers, authors, creators, etc.
Upon asking my interviewees if they thought that maybe some of their favorite artists were doing it for a quick buck or simply for the purpose of art.
Chelsea and anonymous were quick to suggest that there are a lot of rappers and indie artists that will most likely do it just for the money. Examples that they gave were Billie Eilish, Trippie Redd, Melanie Martinez, and Joji.
Chelsea said, “Her style completely changed (referring to Eilish) her music and style became darker when it was considered trendy.”
And that leaves me off to the burning question, Do you think that social media is making people with depression worse? To my surprise, everyone that I interviewed seemed to think that apps like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Tumblr were all “toxic outlets” as Chelsea puts it.
According to the Humanology Project, Tumblr is probably the biggest social media outlet that almost has no boundaries for posting content. “Anyone can search 'depression’, 'self harm’, and ‘anorexia’. And the ability to reblog allows the images to spread faster to a larger audience. Because tumblr is an artistic photo platform, when combining that with mental illness, you get a glamorized view of it.” (Sioma 1)
All in all there are some good websites, social media pages, books, shows etc. that are factual and influence those who are going through a hard time, without triggering and making those feel uncomfortable for something that they can not control. But there are also some media outlets that are misrepresenting mental illness and are considered very toxic. Think about it when you’re on your favorite social app or watching your favorite Netflix show.
Since social media has become a phenomenom there has been a significant change in suicide rates for the worse. Websites like Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. are known to be some of the most common sites/applications to have a negative impact on young teens and some adults.
According to the New York post from the years, 2009 and 2015 kids ages 13 to 18; rates of depression increased by more than 60%. This study shows that the internet and social media can influence suicidal behavior and could be harmful to teens and young teens.
But what isn’t being talked about as much as it should, is how much the internet and the media misrepresent mental health and the people that suffer from it.
“The demographic that is mostly affected by the misinformation being spread about what some people think mental health is, online, are tweens and teens,'' says Jenniffer Pastrana a high school counselor at Yerba Buena High School.
Jenniffer later explains that people tend to make misconceptions about people that suffer from depression and anxiety and may be seen as “weak.”
Upon being interviewed, Chelsea Marquez a sophomore student from Yerba Buena High School, said, “People tend to think that depression is easy to deal with. The feeling of depression is worse than just being just ‘sad’. There’s a big difference between being sad and being clinically depressed.”
This leads to the belief of something is wrong in tweens and teens’ lives. And I wanted to figure out what was going on between these very young adults. What was one of the main reasons for the increase in depression and suicide rates?
When I asked the people I was interviewing if maybe they thought that the internet was a factor of the rising depression rates, Chelsea and the anonymous student seemed to really think that the internet was one of the biggest factors of their own depression.
This leads me to become much more curious than I already was. I was glad that the overall topic of mental health was less of a stigma and was becoming more and more easy to talk about without feeling shame, but when there’s the internet, things are a bit different and could be taken out of context or an audience could be misinformed about the effects of depression.
A question came to me when I began thinking about the effects that the internet has on tweens, teens and young adults. Are social media influencers using mental illness to attract an audience by misrepresenting the issues and if they are what is the right way to do it?
When asking Jenniffer, she didn’t know much about social media influencers, “It’s great if it’s done in an appropriate way that is not just trying to attract attention and if it’s also giving correct information. Some people just tend to spout out their opinion instead of fact. As long as it’s factual then I think that it’s fine that they spread awareness.
What I was very surprised to see while doing research is seeing people use mental illness as a fashion statement or as they (people on the internet call it): sad boy or sad girl aesthetic. I felt a bit conflicted because I never thought that I was going to see mental illness portrayed as trendy.
“It’s strange to see people perceive it as a vibe, cute and quirky,“ Chelsea says.
Even though I found it quite disturbing that people were making merchandise off of having a mental disorder there were still a few things that weren’t making sense. Why was there a significant peak in mental illness and suicide rates in 2017? Then I remembered that 13 Reasons Why debuted that year.
13 reasons why is my biggest motivation for writing this piece, there has been research since the show has come out in 2017 that there has been a significant increase in suicide rates in tweens and teens. Some have even tried to replicate what the lead role did: Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford).
When I looked into the show a little more and did more research, I found that a lot of people had different opinions of how the show portrayed what mental illness can do to a person if not treated correctly or abandoned.
My anonymous interviewee suggested that it was a good idea to make it graphic and realistic, but Chelsea thought that it was a bit too much and was definitely very triggering for those going through a rough time.
But Jennifer was more in between when it came to her answer, “I think that it shows the reality of what happens behind the scenes with someone that is going through that, but I also think that it could influence those who are vulnerable and see these things as good ideas (cutting, committing suicide) and I think that she shouldn’t have made them feel at fault for what she was going through. The word “reason” is not the right term, a better word for it would be impact or influence.”
With this being said, I had to dig deeper and find out if mental illness was just a cash grab for artists, singers, authors, creators, etc.
Upon asking my interviewees if they thought that maybe some of their favorite artists were doing it for a quick buck or simply for the purpose of art.
Chelsea and anonymous were quick to suggest that there are a lot of rappers and indie artists that will most likely do it just for the money. Examples that they gave were Billie Eilish, Trippie Redd, Melanie Martinez, and Joji.
Chelsea said, “Her style completely changed (referring to Eilish) her music and style became darker when it was considered trendy.”
And that leaves me off to the burning question, Do you think that social media is making people with depression worse? To my surprise, everyone that I interviewed seemed to think that apps like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Tumblr were all “toxic outlets” as Chelsea puts it.
According to the Humanology Project, Tumblr is probably the biggest social media outlet that almost has no boundaries for posting content. “Anyone can search 'depression’, 'self harm’, and ‘anorexia’. And the ability to reblog allows the images to spread faster to a larger audience. Because tumblr is an artistic photo platform, when combining that with mental illness, you get a glamorized view of it.” (Sioma 1)
All in all there are some good websites, social media pages, books, shows etc. that are factual and influence those who are going through a hard time, without triggering and making those feel uncomfortable for something that they can not control. But there are also some media outlets that are misrepresenting mental illness and are considered very toxic. Think about it when you’re on your favorite social app or watching your favorite Netflix show.