Tech | September 01, 2010 | 10 comments

Anatomy of an Internet Suicide: Reddit Suicide: How the Internet Can Help and Hurt

source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-31/reddit-suicide-how-the-internet-ca...

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atomiclegion
When a Reddit user recently challenged the online community to give him a reason not to kill himself, their responses either failed to stop him—or pushed him over the edge.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-31/reddit-suicide-how-the...:mainpromo4
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    Health,  Internet,  Facebook,  Suicide,  14 more
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10 comments // Anatomy of an Internet Suicide: Reddit Suicide: How the Internet Can Help and Hurt

  • UtopianSky
    • 0
      UtopianSky  

    • I know this sounds incredibly superficial of me, but damn he is good-looking.

      This reminds me of that guy who was a sit-com actor on that show with Brooke Shields. He was handsome, funny, smart, young, at the beginning of what could have been a great career, and he killed himself.

      He had a life most people would kill for, and he threw it away.

      With depression, people don't have a "reason" why they want to kill themselves, so they can't be "reasoned" to stop. It's all emotion.

    • 1 year ago
  • Ron_Geremy
  • UtopianSky
  • EarthquakeJake
  • Argon18
    • +2
      Argon18  

    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_xHpq9gbC8

      In the case of a suicide they are already predisposed to killing themselves. But like those that call hotlines, they are looking for attention and a way out of doing it, since those that are certain about it just go ahead and do it.

      I agree that it's like asking 4chan to talk someone out of it since unlike a hotline where their purpose is to help, those on reddit are more predisposed to encourage it just for the entertainment value since they have no other less selfish interest.

      But what about if it was murder like in the movie Untraceable? Would people take it more seriously than just entertaiment? Or would they watch anyway like in car wrecks?

      It depends, some should take it less seriously as in all the emotional baggage people drag along and dump their personal problems on every topic they come across.

      But also in the cases where it is shown that their actions can damage a wide range of circumstances then they should take it more seriously.

      It all comes down to a consideration of how selflessly people can act when they choose to and if they react selfishly without taking that into consideration or not.

    • 1 year ago
  • Naumadd
    • +2
      Naumadd  

    • He was more than likely dedicated to committing suicide regardless of the responses. You cannot apply rationality or reason to a mind in which those faculties are failing or have failed. One can try to bring them to some semblance of both, but it is a difficult task and often impossible.

      Yes, I have some personal experience in such matters.

    • 1 year ago
  • toyotabedzrock
  • fun_size
    • +3
      fun_size  

    • Thats like asking 4chan for a reason not to kill yourself. Of course they are gonna push you to do it just to see if they can! People are totally desensitized to reality while on the internet!

    • 1 year ago
  • Buddha2112
  • UtopianSky
    • +3
      UtopianSky  
    • fun_size:

      It's not just the internet- remember the good old days before computers?

      A suicidal person would stand on the ledge of a building, a crowd would gather below, and start chanting JUMP! JUMP!

      People are just sick.

    • 1 year ago
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