The influence of the Internet on youngsters’ suicidal behavior

Internet has introduced many changes and improvements to different spheres of people’s lives. However, various web sites currently are open to abuse, especially by youngsters who are considered to be the main users of global network. This leads to a major problem because most illegal sites created by unknown people are publishing information influencing teenager’s suicidal behavior (Biddle et al. , 2008, pp800-802). The researches show that many online chat forums and pages promoting suicide exist on the internet and the effects are very serious causing an increase in number of young self-murders (British Medical Journal, 2008). More and more young people are becoming victims of damaging web portals, however the issue could be solved, if The Ministry of Education and parents cooperate to control children’s occupation at their free time, if the governments rule internet provider’s activity and if youngsters themselves aware the negative influence of such online pages. The first solution to the issue of harmful influence of the internet on youngsters’ suicidal behavior is The Education Ministry’s and parents’ team work in controlling children’s free time activities. Schools should provide the students with a good psychological support, sport activities, social clubs and volunteers’ organizations, while parents should control children’s attendance to them. Moreover, ”general suicide education” might be taught in schools and colleges in order to give the students basic information about self-murder, warn of the irrecoverable effects and encourage them to help and support their peers “who are at risk for suicide”(O’Carroll, Potter and Mercy, 2004, p4). Obviously, this education system cannot reduce the number of online sites providing information about suicide methods, however it could be helpful to occupy students at schools rather than in internet portals. The second way to overcome the problem related to influence of illegal web pages on youngster’s suicide is government’s intervention in internet providers’ activity. In Australia, for example, it has been against the law since 2006 to advance the concept of suicide and publish information about details and methods of this process (British Medical Journal, 2008). It appears possible, that filtering and blocking online pages propagandizing suicide could solve the issue. On the other hand, it is very difficult to find out about every illegal page because hundreds are created and developed systematically. It is therefore essential to develop suicide prevention sites and provide different online forums containing psychological and mental support for young people. The next strategy to decreasing internet power on suicide could be youngsters’ awareness of such harmful web-pages’ existence. It is necessary to mention that the first two solutions provided in this essay will not have any noticeable result if young people themselves do not understand that online chat rooms or forums promoting suicide will only aggravate the situation. The governments, in this case should also take responsibility to improve their awareness. As D’Orio and Garlow noted, ” there needs to be a comprehensive public-relations campaign to educate the population that suicide is a preventable problem”(2004, p132).