The leading cause of death for teens is suicide.

According to the If Parent Resource Program, more teens die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza and chronic lung disease, combined. 

But why do teens do it? There is no real answer.

Shows like Thirteen Reasons Why seem to highlight the effects of suicide, showing the blaming and the actual suicide scene, which threw tears into many people’s eyes. Although many people enjoyed the show and promoted it for its contribution to suicide awareness, others believe that it only created more problems.

Controversy, like that of Time Magazine, shows that after the first season of the wildly popular show was released, a 19 percent spike in suicide searches occurred. That means 500,000 to 1.5 million more searches about suicide, which “included phrases such as ‘how to kill yourself'”, happened.

However, the show also increased searches for suicide hotlines and prevention.

And it isn’t just Netflix that affects these types of searches.

Singer/songwriter Alessia Cara and rapper Logic, as well as singer Khalid, came out with the song 1-800-273-8255 in 2017, which is the National Suicide Hotline number. The song talks about someone wanting to die because they don’t feel important to others, and they feel blocked out. Then, a change in tone features an opposition, where Cara sings about life and how it isn’t always going to go the way you want it to.

I knew someone who took their life recently. A friend I used to be close with died within the last couple of weeks. It was shocking news to me and my family. I hadn’t talked to him in a few years.

Everyone talks about how they’re “so depressed” and “so done with life”, even though a lot of us don’t mean it. We say it for attention. We say it so others can ask us, “Are you okay? Can I do anything to help?”, while those who actually do mean it sit and hope for someone to finally approach them and ask if they’re okay.

In fact, those who do mean it usually don’t talk about it. Instead, they enclose themselves into a little bubble.

Another issue we face in society is the access to weapons, especially around those who are threatening to harm themselves. Items like guns and knives should not be accessible to those who show signs of harming themselves. And, to further confuse the matter, there are forms of self-harm, such as cutting, that are more of a cry for help than a suicide attempt.

Those signs include:

• Talking about wanting to die, having no purpose or feeling hopeless
• Looking for ways to harm them self
• Talking about feeling trapped, being in unbearable pain or being a burden to others
• Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs and other risky behaviors
• Acting anxious or agitated with extreme mood swings
• Sleeping too little or too much
• Talking about feeling isolated or withdrawn
• Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge
• Change in overall appearance
• Giving personal items away randomly

Of course, there isn’t a true way to tell if someone is going to harm them self because, in society, suicide seems to be one of the top ways to joke around. I constantly hear people say “I would rather die than take this test”. Teens seem to flippantly talk about death without understanding that suicide is a horrible reality that actually happens on a daily basis.

There’s nothing wrong with feeling down sometimes because it’s normal, as human beings, to sometimes have bad days.

But it isn’t just teens, obviously. An average of 22 veterans per day loses their lives to suicide. An average of 13.5 teens die to suicide per day.

When my parents were teenagers, they didn’t know of anyone who killed themselves. There was bullying, but never to the point of suicide.

What is it that’s causing so many children to take their lives? Are the pressures really that different now?

Yeah, they are. There’s a need to have the latest phones, music, clothes and friends constantly that cause us to envy others.

Instead of acting like everything is a joke, try to help others. Instead of laughing at the person who sleeps in class or has constant swollen, red eyes, ask them if they’re okay.

Why do we just ignore people who seem to need help?

Suicide is not a joke. It’s an epidemic, and we need to realize that.

Social media also compounds these problems.

There’s also a constant problem of bullying online. Whether we talk about someone who isn’t keeping up well in school or someone with personal hygiene problems, bullying happens everywhere. We need to understand that everyone is different and everyone has their issues. Nobody’s life is perfect.

Someone doesn’t have the right shoes or the right clothes. Another person gives them a look because they wear the same jacket or the same sweatpants daily.

Words and actions do matter.

Just because we have five tests next week doesn’t mean we should tell our friends “I’d rather die than take these tests”. Just because we haven’t slept enough in a few days doesn’t mean we need to act like we’d rather die and have “unlimited sleep”. The jokes about “back to school necklaces” seriously need to stop.

Going back to school is apparently so dreadful when it should be a fresh start.

What can we as teens and young adults do about this? How can we reach out to each other and make sure we’re all okay?

Now, I wish I could’ve had the opportunity to reach out to that friend, so he could get the help he needed. Even just to ask him how he was doing could’ve helped.

But I can’t resolve this massive problem myself. We, as students and faculty, need to reach out and be more aware of the overwhelmingly large proportions of this problem. We need to look out for each other.

Just do one thing if you feel scared or feel like you need to harm yourself-share your problem and talk to someone today. Tomorrow is always a new day to have a fresh start.