Today’s blog will be about something different, a topic that is huge in people’s mind, but not a huge topic out in the open. It’s sad. It’s a topic that a lot of us don’t understand.
Suicide.
The reason I bring it up is because I see a lot of news and articles about people killing themselves using Facebook live. Why? I mean the way I define suicide is when a person is sad, alone or they feel alone, and do not have an incentive to live. But what makes them decide to use technology to show millions of others how miserable, sad, and defeated they are? Is it to raise awareness? Is it to just call attention? Maybe they are looking for a reason to live. For someone to tell them that they are worth everything and that they are loved.
Sometimes all they do is post something, a hint, just a small piece of proof that they are planning their own death. Take for example, a young man in my town, 5 hours before hanging himself posted a song that spoke about death and what to do with him when he was dead. Another young man, also from my town, posted a video in which the speaker is trying to convince the person watching the video not to kill themselves. I believe the reason they do this is for a last call for help. It can even be the reason to kill themselves or not. Of course everyones story is different. But, as far as I have seen many of these stories end the same, “I would have never thought X person would’ve killed themselves”. Why not? Because we didn’t know them? Because we did not pay attention to all the warning signs? Because we were too busy handling our own lives we couldn’t give a second to someone else?
Many of the people who have killed themselves have had a past where they are not satisfied with who they are and what they do, they don’t love themselves and feel unworthy. They believe they have no reason to live. In fact, these people give hints. They actually do tend to ask for help, but sometimes they go to the wrong people and do not receive the help they need. Even when people claim that there were no warning signs, there always is. The warning signs are there if you chose to ignore them or neglect them, that is a different story.
So, is killing yourself on Facebook live or any other technological product or service that lets you broadcast your death to the world a right thing to do? Well it’s probably not the nicest thing to see. But as the years go by, suicide is listed as one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. So, broadcasting and showing people what happens when they are bullied, treated unfairly, and pushed around or maybe just ignored and neglected. If knowing that suicide one of the leading causes of death does not help with making it aware letting people know it exists and is happening, then maybe something like broadcasting will open people eyes. It is real. It is happening. It is a topic that we should all be aware of.
Ethics with Group 5 
Woah, I didn’t know that people commit suicide on Facebook live. This makes me think that Facebook should detect something as graphic as this as block it. I would hate to see a loved one go live and commit suicide and feel so helpless about it. On one hand, it will allow me to call the police, on the other hand, I would hate for that to be the last image I have of them.
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This is quite the sensitive topic, but you do bring up an interesting development in this type of situation now that live streaming is a popular form of media. I would much rather someone live stream their please for help or even their attempt because if someone is watching and can figure out where they are then maybe they can be saved and provided some much needed help.
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I agree with you, Pearce. At least there is a chance to try and convince them to reconsider. Otherwise, we would have little to no idea if they actually went through with it in the first place.
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I am hearing a lot about Facebook Live lately and none of it has been good. I am personally against censorship but if a platform is being abused to this point maybe they should consider just taking it down.
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Wow, this definitely hits close to home. I have heard of Facebook Live being used by a serial killer recently, I hadn’t heard of it being used for suicide though. It’s all very gruesome.
On the topic of suicide however, there is a lot more to it than feeling lonely or being bullied. It really is a mental illness and people need to start treating it like one.
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Your right, it is real, and people are doing this on Facebook. Suicide is a complicated and painful part of our human existence, and it is further saddened by the fact people are now doing it on social media sites. We all need to be more aware of what the warning signs are and to pay attention to them. You posted a blog on a very sensitive and difficult topic and I admire you for doing so.
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I saw in the comments that they should block the content, but how would that help the individual. And since it is live, there is no accurate software that I know of that can detect media like that. The only thing the tech company it have people flag, have a system in place to verify and track them done, I suppose.
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I feel that this is a sad topic that most are not willing to bring up so I am glad that you posted about it Karina. I believe that many of these individuals would have done this act with or without Facebook live. It is sad to say but I just think that these people are just getting more attention now that it is publicized.
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