Facebook Aims to Help Prevent Suicide

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No one "likes" your latest status update? Have you been "unfriended?" Tormented by the comments on your profile picture? Don't despair, Facebook is here to help.

Facebook is making it easier for people who express suicidal thoughts on the social networking site to get help. A program launching Tuesday enables users to instantly connect with a crisis counselor through Facebook's "chat" messaging system.
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Rat poison is the true answer you digital idiot.
 
I fail to see why we need to help those who want to commit suicide. Isn't it their personal choice what they do with their lives? :D

Suicidebooth.png
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I fail to see why we need to help those who want to commit suicide. Isn't it their personal choice what they do with their lives? :D
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If people are dead, you can no longer collect their private data and sell it to advertisers :p

Strictly financial incentive :p
 
The skin on kids nowadays is dangerously thin, unfortunately.
 
My best friend recently tried to commit suicide so I don't find this funny at all.
 
The only people who can comment on your photos are your friends, and if your friends are leaving bad comments then I would rethink that friendship.

I can see what some people might feel suicidal on facebook. Reality dawns on them, that maybe you have less friends then you think, and they think less of you when they see your comments.

Fact is, most people who use facebook are doing it to get attention. Have a cute photo of yourself? Love to invite people who you don't even know, but your friends know? You're sure to get friends into the thousands.

Reality is most people don't have more then 1 - 3 friends. Everyone else is someone you're associated with. You may work with the person, or know them through someone else. Unless you hang out with that person on a weekly basis, then they aren't really your friend.

Facebook is a race to see who can get the most friends. The prize is a dysfunctional Facebook, where you get people cluttering up your wall.
 
Zarathustra[H];1038141205 said:
If people are dead, you can no longer collect their private data and sell it to advertisers :p

Strictly financial incentive :p
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Good reason! I forgot about this.
 
Professor12 said:
Have you no shame or empathy? I can only hope that one day you realize how repugnant that statement is, even in jest.
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Shame yes, empathy yes. Just not for those who don't deserve it. I realize right now that it is repugnant. Next.

wasteomind said:
Facebook probably causes more people to feel suicidal in the first place....
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Exactly. The little red X at the top corner of the browser will solve all your problems. Goes for you too Professor12.
 
Standard lack of humanity from those at the [H] aside, I think this is a great idea. For many suicide is just a cry for help at a particularly weak moment; having someone there to chat with can make all the difference.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Standard lack of humanity from those at the [H] aside, I think this is a great idea. For many suicide is just a cry for help at a particularly weak moment; having someone there to chat with can make all the difference.
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Facebook is not doing this becasue they care (well, not 100%). They are doing it as a risk mitigation prevention for lawsuits. My guess is they have seen an upward trend in people saying "goodbye cruel world" and don't want to be liable for "not doing something". Sorry, but Facebook and its like are not "personal or social" in any real sense. They decouple you from human interaction and help isolate your further.
 
I'm going a bit off topic here, but Facebook has actually been good to me. I've reconnected with friends who I haven't seen in years, and by reconnected I mean actually spend time with (not just the courtesy hello on their wall). And I've been able to connect with smaller bands and actually have added musicians as friends.

I messaged a drummer before their Vancouver show and he put me on a guestlist which got me and a buddy in for free. Then I drank with the bassist during half of the show. Facebook has given me good times!
 
Trepidati0n said:
Facebook is not doing this becasue they care (well, not 100%). They are doing it as a risk mitigation prevention for lawsuits. My guess is they have seen an upward trend in people saying "goodbye cruel world" and don't want to be liable for "not doing something". Sorry, but Facebook and its like are not "personal or social" in any real sense. They decouple you from human interaction and help isolate your further.
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And so what? I thought that was the whole point of capitalism, that good things end up coming out of a profit motive. I think it's a good thing, regardless of the motivation behind it.
 
And to say that "Facebook" is unique in decoupling you from human interaction...that's been the internet since it's inception, Facebook is just the latest big example of it.
 
TwistedAegis said:
And to say that "Facebook" is unique in decoupling you from human interaction...that's been the internet since it's inception, Facebook is just the latest big example of it.
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It depends on the personality type, really. For some it "decouples", for some it opens social avenues that wouldn't have been available in a typical face to face situation.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
It depends on the personality type, really. For some it "decouples", for some it opens social avenues that wouldn't have been available in a typical face to face situation.
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Right, I just don't think it's unique in that sense. For those with those character traits, they'll get the same decoupling they're looking for from WOW, MUDs, SomethingAwful forums...whatever.
 
Lol @ Kyle
Dekoth-E- said:
I fail to see why we need to help those who want to commit suicide. Isn't it their personal choice what they do with their lives? :D
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True, but their selfish death hurts more than just themselves. Plus, you really don't want to get held up in traffic for 5 hours, while they "contemplate" suicide. China does it right (even if he pushed the wrong way)

P.S. Probably a good thing I never used that psychology degree.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
Lol @ Kyle
True, but their selfish death hurts more than just themselves. Plus, you really don't want to get held up in traffic for 5 hours, while they "contemplate" suicide. China does it right (even if he pushed the wrong way)

P.S. Probably a good thing I never used that psychology degree.
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Which is why I have nothing but contempt for those that attempt or commit suicide. It is the ultimate selfish act and frankly should be scorned openly. Perhaps if people realized they weren't going to be coddled but treated with utter contempt for using this as a method to ask for help instead you know "Asking", then we would see less public examples. More and more media coverage and suicide rates on the rise, gee I wonder. Reality TV has already proven that there is no limit to what people will do to get their 15 minutes of fame.

Exactly, China does it right. Get the hell off the bridge right now or I am coming up there and removing you myself. None of this retarded negotiating crap. These selfish assholes shouldn't be allowed to disrupt the lives of everyone else for any length of time.

As Kyle said, I have plenty of compassion and empathy, simply not for people who don't deserve it.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Which is why I have nothing but contempt for those that attempt or commit suicide. It is the ultimate selfish act and frankly should be scorned openly. Perhaps if people realized they weren't going to be coddled but treated with utter contempt for using this as a method to ask for help instead you know "Asking", then we would see less public examples. More and more media coverage and suicide rates on the rise, gee I wonder. Reality TV has already proven that there is no limit to what people will do to get their 15 minutes of fame.
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Yes, I'm sure someone depressed/lonely or mentally ill will be less likely to commit suicide when scorn is heaped upon them. Brilliant logic. :rolleyes:
 
TwistedAegis said:
Yes, I'm sure someone depressed/lonely or mentally ill will be less likely to commit suicide when scorn is heaped upon them. Brilliant logic. :rolleyes:
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When the current method of dealing with something is not workingt, it is time to try something different. The current method of trying to "protect" these individuals isn't working.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
When the current method of dealing with something is not workingt, it is time to try something different. The current method of trying to "protect" these individuals isn't working.
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I thought the scorn method had been in place for the longest. These blanket statements are starting to whittle away my compassion :D
 
Dekoth-E- said:
When the current method of dealing with something is not workingt, it is time to try something different. The current method of trying to "protect" these individuals isn't working.
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Except that you're completely wrong, and access to someone to speak to has been shown to be effective. You're confusing your lack of empathy and prejudices with logic.
 
Same with your method, that doesn't work, try again

Dekoth-E- said:
When the current method of dealing with something is not workingt, it is time to try something different. The current method of trying to "protect" these individuals isn't working.
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/shrug, either way it is their choice. I fail to see why Anyone has the right to take away someones right to choose what to do to themselves.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Exactly, China does it right. Get the hell off the bridge right now or I am coming up there and removing you myself. None of this retarded negotiating crap. These selfish assholes shouldn't be allowed to disrupt the lives of everyone else for any length of time.
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The same country that had 17 suicides all from workers in the same company? :confused:
 
Dekoth-E- said:
/shrug, either way it is their choice. I fail to see why Anyone has the right to take away someones right to choose what to do to themselves.
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See I actually agree with you there. But the difference between making the informed decision, say in the event of a terminal illness, and to make a snap decision in a moment of weakness is very different. Having someone available to talk to often makes all the difference in getting someone through that weak moment. Facebook isn't talking about calling 911 and locking people up, just making a resource available to them, as often suicide attempts/threats of suicide are just a (very poor, obviously) way of desperate people crying for help.
 
Good idea, yea. A good use for social networking. However, Facebook can be the cause of some of these feelings. It's like a AA meeting at a distillery.

Some of these kids get so upset about an "unfriend" or a post not getting liked. Or negative comments. Or 300 friends on Facebook, but 2 in real life. If your life revolves around being online ALL day and night, then you need more help than just a Facebook chat.
 
Honestly, if what some jackass says to you on Facebook drives you to suicide, odds are it was going to happen eventually...

This is true for adults. As for children, they have no place on the Internet imo.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
/shrug, either way it is their choice. I fail to see why Anyone has the right to take away someones right to choose what to do to themselves.
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QFT

if i ever choose to discontinue living in this world, that choice should be mine to make, same as anyone else. its a matter of oppinion, and everyone is entitled to their own, and no issue of oppinion should be regulated by the government (abortion included, its your oppinion to be for or against it). there is no scientifically correct answer that the government could use to take one side over the other and therefore it must take no side.

the argument of "well, you arer hurting others" is bunk- the law can not force me to be friendly and kind with anyone. in life, i am legally 100% free to emotionally cripple anyone who i can. that may make me a bad person and no one would want to be my friend, but it is completely within my right to be that way. if i do something emotionally terrible to you while alive, your only recourse is to simply stop associating with me. if someone kills themselves (aka, "does something terrible"), you are free to never see or speak to that person again. very simple. no need to legislate it.
 
How can we discern people crying for attention and the real one? It IS the internet after all...
 
Personally I don't agree with the suicide is selfish point of view simply because if that person is in an extreme emotional distress, why should he or she care about what others would feel.

But at the same time, suicide isn't the same as euthanasia, suicide is more of a wrong choice we make in certain extreme psychological situation. We've all have make some wrong choices in our life in a moment of weakness.

It doesn't mean that they don't deserve any help. Sometimes all the need is someone to reach out to them, to pull them back in the moment of weakness when they are on the verge of taking the wrong decision.

So whatever reason Facebook may have in doing this, it doesn't matter. What matters is if they could actually help prevent suicides, I'm all for it.
 
Majinhoju said:
The same country that had 17 suicides all from workers in the same company? :confused:
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That issue had little to do with "isolation"..it was, shown in most cases, purely a financial motive. If that perosn off'd themselves, their families would be set for life. In there minds it became more like being martyr. It was a simple choices in their minds:

1) Go back to the farm and barely (or not) be able to support your family
2) Work in the factory, being miserable, but support your family
3) Kill yourself, no longer miserable, and support your family better than you could working

Take the in the fact that humans can become very irrational under stress and option #3 is the best choice. It is little to do with being "depressed".
 
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