With youngsters increasingly consumed by the world of social media, parents and educators here are increasingly concerned about their mental well-being, especially with suicide-related content trending online.
Suicides among 10- to 19-year-olds are at a 15-year high, and the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) is concerned about this “new wave of negative media influence concerning suicide”
Out of Russia, the Blue Whale suicide game gets players to inflict harm on themselves.Players join by posting on a social media platform using certain hashtags. After vetting by the “curators” of the game, players are asked to complete 50 daily tasks, like cutting themselves. For the final 10 days, the player needs to wake up at a specified early-morning hour, listen to music and contemplate death. The final challenge at the end of the game is to commit suicide.
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In Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, high school student Hannah Baker kills herself in despair, leaving audiotapes for those she holds responsible — among them, her rapist, fickle friends and bullies.
Here’s how you can broach the subject of suicide with your child, and get a healthy conversation going on this tricky subject.
Text: Foo Jieying, The New Paper/ Additional Reporting by Lisa Twang. Photo: Netflix
It’s easy to dismiss suicide as “stupid” or a “silly solution to problems.” But these may trivialise very real feelings of depression and worthlessness kids may feel. Be careful not to pre-judge people who are suicidal, and approach the subject from a sympathetic point of view.
“I find that the conversational and empathetic approach to engage kids in conversation from a third party point of view can help,” says Touch Family Services manager Chong Ee Jay. “It’s an open door opportunity to talk about many other things like mental health, general social media usage, or even to discuss the motivation behind playing such games (like Blue Whale).”
Executive director of Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) Christine Wong sats the best way to combat such social media trends is for the community to be on the alert for negative content online, and teach youngsters to avoid it, and be attentive to their loved ones.“If you notice someone exhibiting behaviour or posting content online which you find uncharacteristic of them, you may want to approach them to find out how they are coping and show concern in a non-judgmental manner,” she says. SOS advises adolescents against watching 13 Reasons Why because the “insensitive depiction of suicide” could give rise to copy-cat cases and a misconstrued perception of those at risk of suicide.
For parents whose kids have watched 13 Reasons Why, Christine suggests the family come together to discuss any issues or concerns of the children, if they are open to it, without judgment, criticism, or punishment.
“Children and teenagers may not feel comfortable talking to their parents about their private lives and experiences. Parents can let them know that there are other professionals they can talk to if they require,” Christine adds.
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