*I URGE THE UTMOST CAUTION IN READING IF YOU SUFFER FROM DEPRESSION, SELF HARM OR DEPRESSION, SOME READERS MAY FIND THIS POST TRIGGERING*
I am forever saying the wrong things with perfectly sound intentions, making awkward conversation with people I consider myself even friends with. How on earth I have done a pretty good job as a salesman on high street retail is beyond me.
Socially awkwardness is usually something to giggle at, something marginally cute. I mean come on, we all find Michael Cera adorable. 'Superbad' is probably the biggest testament in all of his career to how socially awkward he is capable of acting, heck, he may even be that socially awkward.
If you haven't seen Superbad. I suggest you watch it.
Being socially awkward doesn't sound bad. It just sounds like a quirky trait to have. But at what stage does being socially awkward change into being depressed and anxious, and what stage does depression and anxiety become associated with self-harm and suicidal thought tendancies?
Now, do not get me wrong, I am, in nearly every sense perfectly average, nor is this a pity-party for little old socially awkward me. Because I am neither a self-harmer nor have I ever in my life had a suicidal thought, yet I am still a socially awkward person in general. So what's defines it and what spawns the self harm?
It is fairly self-explanatory if you just consider why on earth has it become, to a degree, 'fashionable' to put on the act of being socially 'rejected'?
This runs down many routes and paths, from modern metal bands creating fan-bases that romanticize self harm and suicide. Which, is both good and bad, yes of course awareness is brought up and more people are at least trying to help it. But is it really right that it's possible to see little clusters of self-harming cults cropping up on Twitter, Tumblr and fuck, I've even seen some on Vine... a video sharing app.
Of course, is not to be misconstrued as a huge long rant at people who self-harm, nor am I attempting to generalize all self harmers to metal band fangirls/boys. I think the real message I am always trying to convey, is that everyone should always devote their lives to helping people in the RIGHT way. That does not mean, America, let's 'protect' our country and families by retailing guns as if they were candy. (I couldn't resist that little jibe at the American Government)
There are, because of these little self-harm cults, teenage girls AND boys, young people in this world that truly do not understand the gravity of their own self-harm. When you go to a job interview, when you go on a date, when you spend the rest of your life attempting to live an ordinary life, you will always be reminded of your ridiculous teenage decision to harm your own body.
For people that are not primarily exposed to social media to such a broad extent as I, imagine in a sense a chain reaction. A certain sequence of actions lead to a sharing of those actions, and eventual viral attention.
*WARNING* - Do not read further if you suffer from self-harm, as the following picture is graphic.
A picture like this, is posted to Twitter.
(From Google Images)
Before you know it, it gets retweeted by thousands, shared for everyone else to see, something that was intended to raise awareness has thus become a trigger for thousands of self-harmers across the world, worsening the problem. It's like trying to contain chlamydia by having sex, and during the sex telling them you have chlamydia. It just doesn't work. It's sickening to see, more often than not.
You're probably thinking, well shit, we've gone from Superbad, to depression and self harm.
Yeah... I didn't structure this blog as fabulously as I should have.
It's difficult to comment on self-harm and this sort of topic without, to put it bluntly, being a dick, really. Self-harm is not something to be taken lightly, joked about or in any way emphasized as fashionable. It just shouldn't be shared, it needs to be dealt with fast, otherwise, like any other form of OCD, it will embed itself into the behavior of a person.
I do apologise that this has been such an emotionally dampening post. But it isn't said enough that social media is truly corrupting the minds of young people in more ways than one.
There is, simply, something fundamentally wrong and sickening at the very core of how the people behind Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr are making money.
Aaaaaaand on the bombshell...
I'm going to go and watch Superbad.
If you suffer from self harm and require help, please visit this website.
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