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Brittney Berkley Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1102 April 4, 2013 Online Interest Groups Cause Harm Offline

After watching a video about how technology affects children these days, I obtained more of an understanding of why adults have such a fear for their children putting themselves out in the online world. The negative influences are never ending and online a search engine away. Then, after the two parts about the suicide groups and body image forums I knew exactly what I wanted to research for my paper. I then decided that my paper was going to focus self harm forums. I realized that my extreme interest in this topic came from the hidden world that I failed to notice existed and the psychological standpoint of the subscribers on these forums. I really wanted to understand their way of thinking that self harm or death could solve their problems or make them feel better about themselves. I was also confused as to why the subscribers to these forums or chat rooms only listen to the negative advice that was given to them. The fact that they would not take positive advice from people that were trying to help and just simply talk about anything with them was mind boggling. I also did not understand why the internet played such a crucial role in various peoples disorders. On every study or video Ive watched the children interviewed felt more connected by their friends from their online life. It seems like a sort of fantasy land where you can be whoever

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you want. What they dont realize is that they are being extremely vulnerable to negative influences and crowds.

One article I read was about a survey given to adolescents in Bermuda. The children interviewed stated that they felt closer with the people they were tied to online than the ones in their normal, day to day life. They entrust strangers because the people they talk to know them based on their networking websites and most likely agree with their thoughts. This is probably the main reason why teens or people with low self esteem turn to others via the internet. My thought is that they might feel like no one understands them normally. (Journal of Adolescence) A mother from the UK found that her daughter had become involved with an emo group and began participating in self harm. This could also be in connection with sources the girl may have found online. When trying to be in a group of friends, some children feel peer pressured to do things that they would not normally do. After being negatively influenced by others, cutting came into the picture. (ABC Premium News) This is like a live example of the online groups that promote certain ways of living that are not healthy. I do not think that everyone on these forums had been committing self harm before learning about what it truly is or how to do it. Once in a group like these, it can be extremely easy to fall into peer pressure. I started to Google self harm forums and found frightening results. I found one forum that focused on cutting. After noticing that there was almost no one from the United States I realized that I had something else to research. Why? A majority of the subscribers to these forums or chat rooms are from the UK because these suicide websites are banned in almost every other country. It is easier to get onto the websites that are formed by someone in a different country than trying to find one from America.

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As I scrolled down the page the people who were posting varied. It went for extremely depressed teenagers displaying their stories or how much and deep their cuts were that day to psychiatrists giving helpful advice. These teens seem to be screaming for help by posting very deep and personal thoughts and feelings but dont seem to take the advice from the people who are being positive towards them. The only helpful voices to these adolescents are psychiatrists but there is only so much they can do. This may be because they arent there to help them in person. (Virtual Teen) When constantly hearing negative advice or having low self esteem, the good does not seem like that much help. It may be especially hard to truly take in the good advice when it is not being enforced in person. I found a majority of my information on cutting from a website entitled Virtual Teen Ive just been reading different posts and responses from everyone who I am guessing are a subscriber to the forum. The way they describe how they feel during, before, and after cutting is absolutely mind boggling and very detailed. The way these children spoke about having no feeling or people to turn to was extremely saddening. (Virtual Teen) The people on this forum are all teenagers or even younger children. They talk about how they feel numb and alone and the only time they feel anything is when they cut. The pain is reassurance that they are still there and have feelings. When I first read that statement it filled me with such grief. I dont understand how they can feel like this or have all these problems without help from someone. How does no one notice or care enough to help them through their problems? In actuality, most of the people who self harm do not at all seem like they would. Not everyone who self harms is an emo person who acts depressed most of the time. It can sometimes be the typical girl next door. I also found Pro-Ana, Pro-Mia, and suicide forums while doing my research. (House of Thin)

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Pro-Ana is for people with anorexia and Pro-Mia is for the bulimic. I have found a forum called House of Thin that has a lot of Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia information but does have negatives posted as well. Any body type that is not skin and bones is found to be fat. On one page there is a five minute news video showing the stories from three recovering women who took part in the forum. They felt comfort from the various chat rooms and people who shared common interest with them. The women were made to believe that stick thin models or sickly looking girls were beautiful and everyone else is fat and ugly. The images shown for beauty are sickening. (House of Thin) The interviewed women agreed that the forums confirmed that the forums and websites pushed their disorders to an all time high. They felt less alone with an entire online world that is going through the same day to day challenges. Blindly, the members of these forums follow whatever anyone says. There may be tons of other girls that followed in the footsteps of others with the same disorders that didnt change their ways fast enough. I hope more girls follow in the footsteps of the other women who finally realized what they were actually doing was harming themselves and isnt the definition of beautiful. Getting help and recovering from these disorders is very important for everyone who is having these types of issues. (House of Thin) The saddest research that I have done was the suicide forums. These people seemed the most sure about their conditions out of all the forums I had came across. They werent asking for any help or someone to talk to. The subscribers of the suicide forum seemed to truly think suicide was the only way. As far as Im concerned, they had reached the point of no return. The helpful advice they received was either ignored or thrown out the window with advice towards suicide. (Suicide Letters)

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It was also scary reading about past failed attempts and how badly it makes them want to die even more. You may think that the fact that they had failed at suicide might make them realize that it was not their time to go, but you are wrong. Now the ones who had failed are a million times more desperate for another attempt and to succeed this time. Many of these cases were searching for someone to get them a dangerous mixture of medication or another way to help them die. They even stoop as low as finding partners to end their lives with. (Suicide Letters) Another interesting form of self harm groups online is YouTube videos. The results that appeared just from typing self harm into the search engine were appalling. YouTube bans many things like music videos for being inappropriate but there are a number of videos than arent banned that actually show people either harming themselves or pictures from the past. To make it seem like there is some sort of protection from these videos there is a caution statement next to the names, Warning: The content of this video may be triggering. Although the more popular videos have warnings a shocking 58% do not. If someone was really curious they would obviously watch the video and may reenact the contents on themselves. (Pediatrics) There is an actual study based off of a collection of self harm videos on YouTube. 80% of videos with the topic of self harm or self injury are available to the public. Most of these videos are viewed frequently and a majority of the comments on the videos are positive towards self harm rather than positivity towards stopping or finding help. All of these videos are found to be extremely triggering and/or may cause suicidal thoughts to new comers of the self harm world. (Pediatrics) While reading some comments on various YouTube videos I watched I noticed an overall tone of sympathy but a short of understanding. The viewers to these videos seem to look up to the people who make the videos for the public. Just like the study has shown,

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most of the viewers who left comments had been triggered from watching and slipped back into their depression and addiction to self harm. I was really interested in this topic because I am slightly interested in psychological standpoint of people with different types of disorders. I wanted to understand where they were coming from and how they got to a place so low. The part I wanted to understand the most from my research was why the subscribers felt so safe and only listened to triggering advice. The reason why is because they feel like their supporters from these forums completely understand them and that they have some sort of bond from sharing such personal stories. It was also very interesting to find this other online world that I never knew existed. Just finding these websites scares me a little because I know there has to be more or how to groups which could involve others. When first finding these websites I was shocked and saddened by the stories I was reading. The people who write the stories seem to be bursting with more information to post on the forums. They are completely the definition of an open book. Nothing is kept in secret; it is out there for anyone who is interested in these groups to find. These also made me want to read more and learn about different types of forums, which is why I researched three different types. Cutting was the most common forum because it is not always as extreme as death. Most of the people who cut live normally, unless the cut is too deep. Apparently the feeling of pain and the blood leaving the body is like a symbol for the depression and inner pain leaving the body. Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia are forums that are for anorexia and bulimia. They believe that being so thin that it is unhealthy is beautiful and everything else is fat. When looking in the mirror they see obese people when they are normal weight. Suicide forums are probably the most intense because they are the definite ending of someones life. These particular forums

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scream desperation. They are desperate for help but think that it is too late. They go into deep detail about how and when they are going to commit suicide and/or if they are going to do it alone or with a partner. I think if there were more positive messages on these websites it would have a great impact on the subscribers. Every once and a while you will see genuine advice to make them realize that self harm is not the way to solve your problems. Other than that, it is mostly just people influencing others with triggering thoughts. This could be the reason why the subscribers do not really listen to the small positive influences that are displaced. I believe when the subscribers of these forums are more excepting to take the advice and ready to take steps to recovery forums like these will cease to exist.

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"Self Harm Calendar." Virtual Teen. vBulletin. Web. 27 Feb 2013. <http://www.virtualteen.org/forums/showthread.php? s=5641240f836143973e9bf20f13a07dcb&t=1751>.

"Suicide Letters." Suicide Letters. N.p.. Web. 27 Feb 2013. <http://www.dyingpictures.com/forums/viewforum.php? f=1&sid=050a0af8662a6095ab1f221c7badb63f>.

http://www.houseofthin.com/newsroom/dying-to-be-thin.php

Davis, Katie. "Friendship 2.0: Adolescents' Experiences Of Belonging And SelfDisclosure Online." Journal Of Adolescence 35.6 (2012): 1527-1536. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

R Noble, et al. The Scope Of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury On YouTube. Pediatrics 127.3 (n.d.): E552-E557. Science Citation Index, Web, 10 Mar. 2013.

Self-Harm Culture Growing Among Youth, Mother Says. ABC Premium News (n.d.): Newspaper Source Plus, Web. 10 Mar, 2013.