In my first semester at the high school, I’ve noticed a concerning trend. In many of my classes and activities, I overhear fellow students saying things like, “Ugh, I have so much homework—I’m literally gonna kill myself.” Once, I heard other kids jokingly respond with, “Do it!” These comments usually stem from academic pressures but sometimes relate to body image or social relationships. Although these comments are made in a very casual, off-the-cuff way, I find them quite startling and troubling for multiple reasons.
For starters, why has it become normalized for teenagers at the high school to joke about suicide casually? As someone who has struggled with their mental health, I am startled and bothered hearing suicide mentioned so casually each day. I don’t understand if it is a genuine cry for help or what my response to this kind of expression should be. Most people brush it off casually—but in some cases, underlying emotions could come into play. If you mean to say, “Ugh, I’m so overwhelmed by homework,” it’s far more appropriate to say those words instead! Even if you don’t mean a statement like this literally, members of the school community have had personal negative experiences with these topics. It is a devastating subject, one we cannot take lightly: suicide is one of the leading death causes in the United States. In 2022, over 49,000 Americans died due to suicide—that’s about one death every 11 minutes. Keep in mind that this is just the death number—many more people have attempted suicide or thought about it.
Mental health is a serious problem for many teenagers and should not be used so casually in day-to-day speech. Using hyperbole in language is common. Someone might say they are “dying of hunger” when they are really just very hungry for dinner. People also say things like “I’ll be there in two seconds” when they really mean five minutes. This is very different. Hearing kids say things like, “That’s so gay,” used to be commonplace. Thankfully, through education and advocacy, most people rethink saying “gay” (at least in Brookline) because we know that it is offensive and can be a personal topic. Similarly to the way I hear suicide used to say “I’m so annoyed” or “I’m so tired,” the term “gay” held two meanings: one referring to ‘rubbish’ and the other to sexual identity. But then people learned. That same kind of awareness and action for the use of the word “gay” in slang needs to happen for suicide.
This issue is particularly relevant right now. Data collected by the American Psychological Association shows that 2022 was a peak in suicide rates, which had been worsening for a long time. Our high school community should not be contributing to that. We should strive to make a community where everyone feels safe and welcome.
A survey in 2015 by Harris Poll on behalf of JED of first-year college students found that 76 percent said they would turn to friends for emotional support compared with 64 percent who would reach out to family. Your friend could be suffering from emotions you might not even know about. If people continue to make these jokes, it will continue to seriously affect students who are feeling depressed, possibly making them feel uncomfortable or unwanted. The casual use of suicide in slang can bring a sense of comedy to the topic and make struggling students feel invalid in their suffering.
As a high school community, we have the power to change this. It’s important to be aware of our word choices, especially when expressing personal stress. Think before you use suicide to convey your emotions. If you are genuinely suffering, by all means, you should reach out for help! There are therapists, counselors, and deans that you can turn to at the high school. You can also seek help from someone outside of school. Suicide is an alarming topic related to true concerns and emergencies and should only be used in such cases. It is not something to casually joke about. There is a better and more responsible way to talk about the pressures of the school workload and other everyday issues in a way that doesn’t use suicidal language or make light of self-harm. People must learn to be more aware of topics they bring up in conversation. Something you may think is a casual joke can be triggering and damaging to many members of your community.