Since the late nineties there have been a disturbing number of cases from all over the globe of people who have taken their own lives after visiting sites, forums and communities about suicide. But what should be done and would it make any difference?
A few weeks ago I watched Hideo Nakata’s Chatroom, a UK film which although wasn’t an incredible piece of cinema, raised many issues about the role of the Internet in encouraging violent behaviour, from bullying to urging others to commit suicide.
Obviously this was just a film, but a Google around will show you that there have been numerous cases of people taking their own lives after visiting sites, forums and communities about suicide for years. Suicidal behaviour after visiting these websites has become a huge concern all over the globe, with some of the earliest cases happening in Japan.
It seems many understandably go online to find comfort in others who may be experiencing the same kinds of problems. Roy Boffey’s son killed himself after visiting a suicide forum last year and he later spoke to the BBC and explained that he imagines many of these sites are there to help people.
However, he goes on to say, "then they move from being therapeutic to being supportive, a friend network. But the end result is it becomes a closed circle... nobody on those websites is going to confess to anybody outside."
He believes that these communities close people off from their real world, making them more likely to only depend on others in the forum and not seek any help. This is a problem when you don’t know who the other people in the forum are, William Melchert-Dinkel used to troll these forums pretending to be a nurse who would tell people to kill themselves. There are also those looking to encourage people to enter into a suicide pact with them, like the case of Joanne Lee and Stephen Lumb who met in a forum and later took their own lives.
However, it seems many aren’t just looking for support or a community to confide in, as there are sites full of content about ‘tips’ to kill yourself, containing both fake and real videos of people taking their own lives. This in itself has become a disturbing phenomenon, with cases from many different countries of people livestreaming their own suicide online.
If you’ve ever read anything I‘ve written for BitchBuzz Tech before, you know I get a little sick of the media always pointing the finger at social networks, suggesting they do terrible things to us and influence the way we think.
But, with the growing increase in suicide sites, can we really say that such thoughts, suggestions, videos and even tips about taking your own life wouldn’t affect vulnerable and troubled individuals?
It comes back to the highly debated issue of whether the Internet changes the way we act or just amplifies the way we’ve always acted.
Maybe someone with suicidal tendencies would always have found a way to kill themselves without having the Internet at hand. But at the same time if you’ve seen someone commit suicide, belonged to a forum which looks at different ways to kill yourself and have had the ‘support’ of others in the forum then it could be said that you’re more inclined to go through with it?
I realise that’s a rather crude example of how someone may or may not be influenced by this kind of content and I think it’s something no one can really know for sure.
However, this hasn’t stopped various organisations and governments from trying to address the issue. The Korea Times reported that the government is trying to ban such websites after seeing a steady rise in suicides and Rosie Wilson wants the same to happen here in the UK after her daughter tried to commit suicide with the aid of the Internet. There are also other steps being taken, the Samaritans’ website ranks highly in search results about suicide-related information in the hope that someone looking for advice goes to the right place.
But are these measures the right to take, or is it an inevitability that people will search for this kind of content and if we ban it, hide it or condemn it they’ll only find it somewhere else?
Becca Caddy is a freelance writer and BitchBuzz Tech columnist with a particular interest in how technology affects people, culture and most importantly the way we communicate with each other. You can follow her @beccacaddy or read her blog beccacaddy.com.
Image via GPSHead’s Flickr.