
Social media urged to take 'moment to reflect' after girl's death - laurex
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jan/30/social-media-urged-to-take-moment-to-reflect-after-girls-death
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Nextgrid
Maybe a controversial comment, but is suicide really that bad?

I had my share of bad things happening in my life during my teenage years. I
was contemplating suicide. I am here so obviously I didn't do it in the end,
but I am grateful that I had the choice - it was my own life and suffering, it
should be _my_ choice to decide if I should end it. We seem to approach
suicide from our perspective as bystanders, but never consider the perspective
of the victim itself. What if, indeed, the victim is better off being dead (or
whatever is out there, which will depend on your religious beliefs) rather
than suffering for an unknown period of time hoping for things to get better?

In my opinion depression and suicidal thoughts are often the symptom of a
deeper problem, one that therapy or medication won't actually fix, just like
putting tape on the check-engine light doesn't stop your engine from still
breaking down a bit later. In my case it was something that only something
extremely improbable (similar to winning the lottery) could fix. It happened,
and by pure chance I was able to start anew in a different country, but if it
didn't then I would completely understand suicide if I still were in that
situation.

I don't think people just go on social media, see a depressing picture or
story and commit suicide. The problem has to be brewing for long before that,
and again in my opinion it isn't something therapy or meds can fix - there is
a root cause and some root causes are hard or next to impossible to fix, and
unless fixed, the person might still be miserable - is a life full of misery
better than a quick death? I think it should be left to the person themselves
to decide that.

There are _many_ problems with social media, privacy, spreading scams/malware,
misinformation, anti-vax and dubious health claims, but this seems like a non-
issue. To me it feels like the family can't accept the shit that just happened
and wants a scapegoat to blame it on. Yes, there are tons of depressing and
pro-suicide content online and some accounts have tens of thousands of
followers and yet I don't see people committing suicide in tens of thousands.

