The recent news report of a 16-year-old girl committing suicide in a city school earlier this week is a grim reminder that our children are living stressful lives.
According to reports as per her suicide note it seems she was facing some kind of problems in her life.
A young person dying by suicide is devastating to family, friends, and community.
Parents, siblings, friends, teachers and neighbours might feeling angry or guilty, or be left wondering if they could have done something to prevent that young person from turning to suicide.
Many teens who die by suicide have given some type of warning to loved ones ahead of time.
So it’s important for parents and those around them to know the warning signs so teens who might be suicidal can get the help they need.
Teenagers can face many problems, including mental health issues, substance use, and relationship problems.
They may experience stress from pressure to conform to peers, exploring their identity, and media influence.
With social media taking much of space in a kid’s life nowadays, suicidal tendencies among teenagers have increased.
Social media effects on mental health depend on things such as, what a teen sees and does online, the amount of time spent online, psychological factors, such as maturity level and any preexisting mental health conditions and personal life circumstances, including cultural, social and economic factors.
Social media use may have negative effects on some teens.
It might, distract from homework, exercise and family activities, disrupt sleep, lead to information that is biased or not correct, lead some teens to form views about other people’s lives or bodies that aren’t realistic, expose some teens to online predators, who might try to exploit or extort them and expose some teens to cyberbullying, which can raise the risk of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
As per information available in the Meghalaya police website, in 2022 (latest data uploaded), out of the 213 reported suicide cases, 21 of them are below 18 years.
According to the data 10 suicide cases below 18 years of age were due to love affairs, four due to family problems and one case was due to failure in examination.
As we mourn the loss of the 16-year-old girl, let us also pledge to create a more compassionate and supportive community for our young people.
By doing so, we can help prevent such heartbreaking incidents and empower our teenagers to lead happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives.
