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Hannah Huffman
C. Douglas
UWRT 1102-025
3 February 2015
How Is Social Media Impacting Suicide Rates?
There is no question that suicide rates have raised significantly over time. Studies show
that over the past 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. The question is why?
There are many ideas for why this increase is happening. David Luxton, Jennifer June, and
Jonathan Fairall believe that suicide rates are increasing due to social media through cyber
bullying as well as many other reasons. Mr. Stack believes that the increased suicide rates over
time are due to a copy cat effect that has become more prominent because of access to this
information through the Internet. All of these authors agree that social media has impacted these
rates and they all speak out to different suicide prevention programs to try and help this
increasing issue. These authors are attempting to inform readers of this issue that seems to go
unnoticed. In Social Media and Suicide: A Public Health Perspective, these authors state the
thesis of their article by saying, In this article, we discuss the role of social media in suiciderelated behavior and frame the issue from a public health perspective (Luxton, June, Fairall, 2).
In the second article that was chosen, Media Coverage as a Risk Factor in Suicide, S. Stacks
thesis states that Most of the evidence to date for a copycat suicide effect is very indirect and
not fully satisfactory. That is, associations are drawn between the presence of a suicide story and
a rise in the social suicide rate (1). This essay will help show which author(s) has the most
effective argument for explaining the relationship between social media and suicide rates.

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In the first article, Social Media and Suicide: A Public Health Perspective, the authors
give many different reasons for how social media has impacted the suicide rates over the
previous years. Luxton, June, and Fairall do a very nice job at making their article credible by
using statistics to support their ideas. These authors feel that Cyber Bullying is the main cause
for suicide in relation to social media. Cyberbullicide has become a term that is used when
cyberbullying is directly or indirectly linked to suicide (Luxton, June, Fairall, 3). Statistics
used in this article show that victims of cyberbullying were almost two times as likely to
attempt suicide than those who were not (Luxton, June, Fairall, 3). When the authors connect
the argument to the everyday lives of preteens and teenagers that attend middle school and high
school, they make a very convincing argument. Cybersuicide has been linked to suicide pacts as
well according to this article. Because of social media, cybersuicide has become an issue due to
different online chat rooms and blogs that are easily accessible by any individual. Another
argument that was made was that because of the Internet, people have access to information on
how to commit suicide. They believe that the Internet is a gateway to new opportunities of
suicide. The language of this article is very easy to understand for most anyone who would read
this article. The use of this easily understandable language makes the article flow and helps the
argument to be understood. This article is separated into two main parts, negative effects of
social media and positive effects of social media. The separation of the two help the argument by
showing both sides and letting the reader decide on how they believe social media impacts
suicide rates. This organization and form definitely helps the argument of the authors because
they are not forcing the reader to choose one side over another. One thing that the argument
could have used is pathos. The reader might be influenced more if they were able to view this
argument from an emotional standpoint as well as logical. On the other hand, the biggest strength

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of this article is the logos. The statistics used throughout the article make a very convincing
approach.
The second article chosen, Media Coverage as a Risk Factor in Suicide, is also somewhat
convincing. The argument is that suicide rates have increased because of social media and
copycat deaths. A copycat death means that people will use the Internet to see how a famous
person committed suicide and reenacted that death on themselves. This article is very formal and
structured because it is directed towards suicide prevention programs. Although it is a formal
piece, it is also very easy to understand and interpret from an average persons point of view. The
language of this article is very simple and informative to the audience. This article is separated
into many different sections with labeled titles which each give different scenarios and reasons
for copycat suicide and social media. A reader might think that this is a fault for the argument
because the article does not flow and just jumps around. Throughout the article, there are many
headers that make the article seem too sectioned off. One strength of the article is that it uses a
lot of logic and statistics and also sticks to the main idea of the entire paper instead of getting off
track. A weakness of this article, as well as the previous, is that it does not appeal to the emotions
of the readers.
The most effective argument is the first one for many reasons. The article was very easy
to understand and allowed the reader to view many different views on how media impacted
suicide rates. These three authors did a very good job at drawing the reader in using many
statistics in the beginning of their argument as well as throughout it. The authors that most
appeals to their argument are Luxton, June, and Fairall because they mention many different
effects that social media have on suicide rates. These authors do not just focus on one specific
idea but multiple so the reader can have a better understanding of the argument. Each article

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gives the reader the idea that social media and media in general have greatly impacted our
society. The second article was also convincing but the argument seemed almost too narrow to be
convincing. There are clearly many other reasons for how social media impacts suicide rates that
reach beyond the copycat deaths. The Internet is a widely used system that is also easily
accessible in many different ways. This advance in technology has definitely impacted suicide
rates from the past years and it is clear with the statistics that both articles used.

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Works Cited

Luxton, David D., Jennifer D. June, and Jonathan M. Fairall. Social Media and Suicide: A
Public Health Perspective. American Journal of Public Health 102.Suppl 2 (2012):
S195S200. PMC. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
Stack, S. "Media Coverage as a Risk Factor in Suicide." Injury Prevention (2015): 30iv-32. BMJ
Publishing Group. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
"Suicide Statistics." Befrienders.org. Befrienders Worldwide, 2 Nov. 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.befrienders.org/suicide-statistics>.