Editorial: Teen Suicide Streaming

EDITORIAL:

Teen Suicide Streaming

By Trevor K. McNeil

Thirteen Reasons

There is often a debate about whether art is imitating life or life is imitating art. Then there are cases when the situation is clear. The thoroughly depressing Netflix series, “13 Reasons Why” is based on the Young Adult novel of the same name. The book, and now the series is a direct response to instances of teenagers, and even younger kids, posting social media videos that either directly detail their plans to commit suicide, or are released just before these  young people tragically take their own lives.

A Playlist on YouTube

So-called “suicide videos” have become so common they almost constitute a genre unto themselves. There are even playlists of them on YouTube. Let’s all just take a minute and reflect on that. Everybody thoroughly disgusted and disturbed? Good, then we’ll continue. While they came as something of a shock at first, suicide videos are really more of a natural side-effect of social media itself. Give people the ability to record and release anything and they will. For better or worse.

“I Need Someone”

One of the first cases to bring the issue to light was that of Amanda Todd. Eventually going viral the video, shot in black and white with one of Amanda’s favorite songs playing, features Amanda relating her story. Amanda used hand-written flash cards, her face partially obscured by the camera angle, she tells how when she was 12 years old a predator who had groomed her convinced her to lift her shirt on a web cam, exposing her breasts. Creepy as this was, it would not end there. Unknown to her, her abuser took a screen capture and kept the image.

My Name is Amanda Todd

Her abuser would use this image to blackmail and harass her and turn everyone she knew against her.  She struggled to start over, but it was not to be.  The situation led her to developing anxiety, depression and panic disorder. She started self-harming and became a pariah at every school she tried. A guy at a new school tricked her into having sex with him; and then his girlfriend, who Amanda didn’t know about, beat her up while everyone else filmed the attack. Two failed suicide attempts followed before she made the now infamous YouTube video. The video ends with cards saying “I have nobody. I need someone.” And “My name is Amanda Todd.” Later that week Amanda made her third and final suicide attempt.

A Turn For the Worse

As heart-breaking as the Amanda Todd video is, and it is, don’t get me wrong, it is the beginning of a disturbing new trend. No more messages predating suicides, or messages stating the intention to do so, though these are still around, this is the era of videos and live-streams of the act itself.

Video and Live-stream

There is, on YouTube of all fucking places, a video of a young college student in India dying while holding her dog after overdosing on pills. An “education” video, which why it has yet to be banned.  The video is followed by shocking statistics. Thousands of students in India kill themselves each year and the viewer is asked to get help if they need it.

Story of a Girl

The most disturbing instance of this trend I have seen is that of Katelyn Nicole Davis. There are a lot of theories when it comes to suicide. Assumptions about motives, and the inevitable, why? In Katelyn’s case, I think it was pretty damn clear. Raised in Georgia, she lived in a tiny, rundown trailer with her mother, brother, sister and step dad. She slept on a mattress on a perpetually wet floor.  The floor was wet due to a water leak that never got fixed.  There was also a hole in the floor open to the outside, meaning that she was always wet, cold and often sick. Reportedly her mother was a junkie who often left Katelyn to take care of her younger siblings. Add to this hellish equation her sicko stepfather who brutally demeaned Katelyn while he  simultaneously tried to sexually violate her. What a recipe for tragedy.

Always Trying to Stay Positive

Despite more than one suicide attempt Katelyn tried to stay positive, often putting up a brave, funny front and using YouTube as an outlet, showing great passion in most of her videos, even the sad ones. It was through these videos and the social media that came with it that she met Luke. Luke Callahan would become her new tormentor. Callahan was an online predator who picked up where her step-dad left off when he divorced Katelyn’s mom.

In Her Own Words

In late December, 2016 when she was just about to turn 13, Katelyn turned on her camera linked to a live feed site and went into her backyard with a rope and something to stand on; not shown clearly. She tied the rope to a large tree and put the support under it. Then she made a statement.

“I’m Sorry”

This is what she said: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m not pretty enough. I’m sorry I came into your lives just to get out of it this quickly. I’m sorry everyone. I’m really, truly sorry – for everything. [she puts down the camera so it is focused on the tree, stands on the support and puts the rope around her neck] I’m sorry Luke. I wasn’t the best for you. I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough. I’m sorry Ben. I’m sorry Ben. I’m sorry Lizzie that – I’m sorry for the shame I always – that I wasn’t strong enough. I’m sorry everyone. I’m sorry I let this depression get to me. I’m sorry everyone. I am really sorry. I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve to live. I’m sorry God, I know I’m making an act of selfishness. I’m so sorry everyone. I’m sorry. I’m sorry to all you guys who really like me and want me. I’m sorry that I seem like a whore”.

A Tale of Failure

These are cases of failure. Not on the part of the victims but the system and society itself. There was some justice for Amanda Todd. Her initial tormentor; the abuser who took the illegal image of her 12-year-old body was arrested and jailed. This however, happened only after she was dead. Nothing happened to the kids that harassed and bullied her and turned her life into a living hell. Katelyn’s step dad, Anthony Lee Rogers who sexually abused her and left her anxious, and broken mentally is now, after her death, under investigation. The fact that such outrage was allowed to happen is scandalous. This is an abject failure of the child protection system, the school system and most egregiously, the children’s mother. 

In a Perfect World

In a perfect world Amanda Todd would have been able to find anonymity from her abuser and been allowed to make and keep friends. Katelyn Davis would have been removed from her abusive home. And, in that perfect world Amanda and Katelyn would be given help with their mental health issues. In this perfect of worlds both Katelyn and Amanda would be alive today. In this perfect of worlds Anthony Rogers would be in jail along with Katelyn’s mother. But we live here and now; where tax cuts and defense spending take priority over child protection, mental health and suicide prevention.  Amanda and Katelyn are dead along with countless others who either didn’t make a video or whose voices were lost in the ever churning machine of the 24/7 media cycle.

It’s Time to Give

It doesn’t have to be this way. The system has failed. The politicians are oblivious but there is still hope. If the government is not going to properly fund mental health or suicide prevention initiatives then we as people and organizations will have to do it. We must do something. Through donations, run fund-raisers, bake sales we as a society must commit the money so needed for this important work. Furthermore, ACLU and other organizations need to sue the federal government on behalf of the mentally ill to secure treatment.

I’ve Got Your Back

It doesn’t always take money. Volunteer with your local Suicide prevention and/or mental health organization. If you have your own story of survival tell it, often and proudly, let others know they are not alone and there is hope. If you see someone who seems lonely talk to them. If someone you know is harming themselves, tell someone you trust. If you are being hurt, hurting yourself or just feeling depressed, please tell someone. It is not your fault, you are not alone and it is not too late. I’ve got your back.