CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

In a time to time bases technology and other inventions creates good will

over the years. But of course good will comes with destruction, riot and chaos. In

the modern days, technology creates riot at the market and mental disruption

towards the humanity. One of the major effects of technological advancement is

the rising number of suicidal cases rooting from the usage of social media.

(Mann-Wilcoxon- Whitney, WSC)

According to Albert Einstien, he feared that the world would rely so much

on social media that people will become idiots. This statement alone proves that

social media have two sides the negative and the positive. Over the course,

social media are producing number of deaths committing suicide. In a worldwide

basis suicide is one of the most highly recognizing effects of depression. Some

countries like United States of America (USA), China, South Korea and Japan

including Philippines have the most number of suicidal cases in the span of five

years according to International Humanistic Data (IHD). (IHD, 2013)

In the Philippines social media has been rampant among teenagers this is

why almost 50% of the suicidal cases are caused by cyber bullying, network

threatening and social media shaming and bashing. In which, social media has
been the major contributor of depression. In this case is the avenue for physical,

mental, psychological, social and spiritual violence. (PNP Reports, 2016)

The researchers would like to know. What are the factors that social

media contribute to the respondents to commit suicide and what are the

psychological behavior effects of using social media? The researchers would like

to address also if there are any significant relationship between social media and

the number of suicidal cases.

Theoretical Background

The five theories listed below are of relation with the study itself. Theories

are based from the studies of the authors and previous researchers.

Theories

Below are the list of theories that supports the study throughout the

process. The theories where in relation with the suicidal factors and the usage of

social media as the bridge for people to attempt or commit suicide.

Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon

Weibo Suicide Communication and Non-WSC Theory

This theory focuses on the questionnaires and relationship between the

social media and suicidal tendencies using the factors of computation such as

suicide ideation, to assess the negativity effect of social media usage, the theory

is used to assess the students vulnerability to suicide and of course the

preference of using social media provided with their demographics and personal

information’s.

The respondent was asked whether or not he/she had told others via

Weibo in the past 12 months that he/she wanted to kill himself/herself.

Respondents could choose among five options: never, sometimes, about half the

time, usually, and always. When examining the characteristics of people who

engaged in WSC, we dichotomized the five options as follows: WSC group

(sometimes to always) and Non-WSC group (never). However, when examining

the three candidate models, we retained the five categories so that the original

data structure could be retained.

The theory also states the preference for using social media categories of

reporting the frequency of use included instant messaging, posting to Weibo

within a circle of friends (a similar function as the Facebook timeline), posting to

Weibo to the public (a similar function as Twitter), blogging, and the use of online

forums. Respondents were asked to report how frequently they use the following

five types of social media to express themselves in regular situations: never use,

occasionally use, use every week, use almost every day, and use frequently

every day.

Finally, Respondents were invited to provide their profile information,

including age, gender, education level, marital status, and living status (living

alone, with family/partner, with friends or with others).

 In summary, although suicide is still a sensitive topic, social media users

who suffer from negative affectivity or/and suicidal ideation appear to have a

higher probability of disclosing their feelings by talking about suicide on Weibo

(WSC) or any social media sites, especially for those who also often use online

forums and blogs for communication. WSC, Facebook, Twitter should be

considered a sign of suicidal ideation or negative affectivity, which may not be

followed by immediate suicidal acts but is certainly a risk factor for suicide. If

other social media users, including lay people and online intervention programs,

can properly respond when receiving such self-disclosure messages, social

media can be transformed into a safety net for suicide prevention. (Int. J.

Environ. Res. Public Health 2015, 12 11521)

Public education should be organized to encourage online users at risk of

suicide to seek help from professionals, and to educate the general users to act

as gatekeepers to provide reflective listening, peer support, and referrals for

professional follow-up.

Wentworth Miller’s Sociological Theory of Technological Suicide

As Miller and Colleagues note: 'The sociological theory of suicide, the

psychache theory of suicide, suggest that inadequate social support and strong

interpersonal relationships increase risk for suicidal ideation and suicide

attempts. The need to belong, in particular, is a central theme in Joiner’s IPTS.

These theories complement developmental research, which suggests that the

maintenance of strong relationships with parents while concurrently establishing

an independent network of close friends and close community connections (often

within school settings) is needed for normative socioemotional growth.’ Students

with proper social support networks find it easier to develop coping strategies

towards hostile situations. On the other hand, absent or weak social/family

support often is often assumed as a higher suicide behaviour risk factor. (Miller

et. Al, 2015)

Recent literature reviews conclude that perceived social support from

parents and peers plays an important role in the development of adolescent

Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. A mental health diagnosis is a strong

predictor of suicidal behavior and nine out of ten people who end their life will

have experienced clinically significant mental health problems. One potential risk

factor that has received comparatively little attention is the stigma associated

with mental health problems and associated experience of discrimination. It has

been suggested that the acceptance of stigmatizing beliefs about mental illness

may influence levels of hopelessness. For example, if individuals accept that they

have a mental health problem, and internalize the often negative stereotypes

associated with mental illnesses (e.g. dangerousness, chronicity), they will feel

more hopeless and despairing of their future. Perceived racial discrimination and

experience of acculturation in minority ethnic communities has been associated

with increased risk of suicidal ideation and there are similar findings in the

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities. More recently, studies

have shown a relationship between diabetes and psychiatric disorders. In fact, a

recent survey showed that the prevalence of depression is approximately (ten)

10% higher in diabetic patients. Psychiatric and physical disorders, which are
most commonly affective disorders, contribute to suicide risk. Additionally,

demographic factors, such as a lower household income, lower educational

attainment, unemployment, and living alone as well as childhood maltreatment

have been reported to be associated with increased suicide risk. Demographic

factors associated with suicidal ideation in univariate and most multivariate

analyses were female gender, lower education, lower income, non-White

ethnicity and Christian, non-Catholic religion. These variables are associated with

social disadvantage in Brazil. However, these suggested risk factors may be

insufficient to predict and prevent suicide because individual risk factors account

for a small proportion of the variance in risk and lack sufficient specificity.

(Masuda et. al, 2014)

Thomas E. Joiner et. al’s The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide

. According to the theory, the capability for suicidal behavior emerges, via

habituation and opponent processes, in response to repeated exposure to

physically painful and/or fear-inducing experiences. In the current paper, the

theory’s hypotheses are more precisely delineated than in previous

presentations. (Joiner, 2005)

Approximately one million individuals worldwide died by suicide in 2000,

and estimates suggest that 10 to 20 times more individuals attempted suicide

(World Health Organization, 2008).

 Only two interventions have been shown to prevent deaths by suicide

(Fleischmann, Bertolote, Wasserman, De Leo, Bolhari, Botega, et al.,

2008; Motto & Bostrom, 2001)

The reason why is the state of knowledge for such a devastating

psychological phenomenon relatively is lacking.

First, very large samples are needed because the base rates of suicide

attempts and deaths are low in the general population (Moscicki, 2001). Second,

individuals with suicidal behaviors are often excluded from clinical trials due to

safety concerns on the part of researchers (Rudd, 2001). Finally, individuals who

die by suicide are not available for psychological assessments, thus limiting

methods researchers can employ.

Although much research on suicidal behavior has been conducted in an

atheoretical context, theories of suicide spanning diverse perspectives—including

biological, psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and developmental/systems

etiologies—have been proposed. Biological theories propose that suicidal

behavior results from the dual presence of a biologically-based diathesis (such

as dysregulation of the serotonergic system in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex)

and an activating psychosocial stressor (Mann, 2003; Plutchik, Van Praag, &

Conte, 1989; van Pragg, 2001).

A comprehensive theory of suicidal behavior must also be able to account

for other demographic differences in suicide rates, including that suicide rates

vary by gender, age, and culture. One of the most consistent findings with
regards to the epidemiology of suicidal behavior is its gender distribution. With

the exception of China, male suicides outnumber female suicides in every nation,

worldwide (World Health Organization, 2003).

Finally, the literature also indicates the presence of environmental factors

that are associated with elevated risk for suicide, including easy access to lethal

means, clustering/exposure to suicidal behavior, and seasonal variation in rates

of suicidal behavior, as well as increases in connectedness through “pulling

together” effects that are protective against suicide.

Sigmund Freud Revised by KA. Menninger Psychodynamic Theory of

Suicide and Usage of Social Media

 Psychodynamic Theories are descendants of the original psychoanalytic

approach developed by Sigmund Freud in the late 1800s. Dr. Freud was one of

the first "psychotherapists" (professionals who treat mental problems with a talk

therapy) and was nothing if not influential. Freud introduced the idea that the

mind is divided into multiple parts, including the irrational and impulsive Id (a

representation of primal animal desires), the judgmental super-ego (a

representation of society inside the mind), and the rational ego which attempts to

bridge the divide between the other two parts. He popularized the idea that the

mind has conscious and unconscious parts which can conflict with one another,

producing a phenomena called repression (a state where you are unaware of

certain troubling motives or wishes or desires). His basic therapeutic idea was

that mental illness was caused by mental tensions created by repression, and

that mental health could be restored by making repressed knowledge conscious.

As it turns out, reality is more complicated than this. Talking about your problems

and coming to understand them doesn't necessarily make them go away, but it

can be very helpful nevertheless. Many ideas from psychoanalysis turn out to be

important, including the idea of repression (and the related idea of dissociation)

which has developed into the study of coping strategies and defense

mechanisms (ways that people attempt to manage or ward off. (Dombeck, 2018)

One branch of modern psychodynamic theory (sometimes called "object

relations" theory) is much less concerned about struggles between parts of the

mind, and much more concerned about how people understand and represent

their relationships with other people. The "objects" in object relations theory are
representations of people (how others are experienced, represented and

remembered by the person doing the objectification). Object relational therapists

note that people's early relationships often set the tone that later relationships will

take. This occurs in part because of a phenomena called transference, and also

because what you experience early in life seems "normal" to you and you

become in some ways drawn to new relationships that help you replicate that

original "normal" feeling. This tendency works out well when early relationships

are healthy, but very poorly when they are disturbed. People whose early

relationships involve abuse or neglect often end up not feeling quite comfortable

in later relationships unless those relationships recreate in some fashion those

early abusive or neglectful dynamics.

Transference occurs when people use representations of older

relationships as a means of jump-starting their understandings of new

relationships. When an older relationship has been "transferred" onto a newer

one, the older relationship will be the point of comparison against which the

newer one is judged. The person doing the transferring may read characteristics

or tendencies into the newer relationship that aren't there, simply because they

were there in the older original relationship. For example, a young man who has

had a difficult and distant relationship with his father, might generally react angrily

towards other adult males, but not really have insight as to why he does this. He

might end up sabotaging career prospects by alienating potential employers if he

can't get a grip. Object relational therapists might help this man by making him

aware of his prejudicial pattern, helping him to process his anger feelings in the
moment (should he attack the therapist), and by offering a new model of what a

relationship can be like (e.g., trusting, trustworthy, non-abusive) which the young

man can then transfer to other relationships. ( Knowing about stressful

information). (Menninger, 2005)

Emile Durkheim’s Sociological Theory

How, then, do we determine the causes of suicide? One answer was

simply to rely on statistical records of the "presumptive motive of suicide"

(apparently construed as a cause) kept by officials in most modern societies; but,

despite its obvious convenience and plausibility, Durkheim rejected this resource

for at least two reasons. First such "statistics of the motives of suicides" were

actually statistics of officials opinions of such motives, which thus embodied not

only difficult assessments of material fact, but still more difficult explanations and

evaluations of actions performed at will. Second, regardless of the credibility of

such reports, Durkheim simply denied that motives were true causes, a

characteristic position he supported by pointing to the contrast between relatively

constant proportions of different classes of "motive explanations" (both over time

and across occupational groups) and extremely variable suicide rates

themselves (over the same time period and across the same occupational

groups). These "reasons" to which suicides are ascribed, Durkheim thus insisted,

are only apparent causes, individual repercussions of more general states which

they only imperfectly express: "They may be said to indicate the individuals weak

points, where the outside current bearing the impulse to self-destruction most
easily finds introduction. But they are no part of this current itself, and

consequently cannot help us to understand it.Disregarding such individual

repercussions, therefore, Durkheim turned directly to the "states of the various

social environments" (religious confessions, familial and political society,

occupational groups) across which the variations in suicide rates occur, and

within which their causes might be found. (RA Jones, 1986)

The decisive influence of these currents, however, is rarely exerted

throughout an entire society; on the contrary, its effect is typically felt within those

particular environments whose conditions are especially favorable to the

development of one current or another. But the conditions of each individual

environment are themselves dependent on the more general conditions of the

society as a whole -- the force of altruism in the army depends on the role of the

military in the larger civilian population; egoistic suicide increases among

Protestants to the extent that intellectual individualism is a feature of the entire

society; and so on. No collective sentiment can affect individuals, of course,

when they are absolutely indisposed to it, but the same social causes that

produce these currents also affect the way individuals are socialized, so that a

society quite literally produces citizens with the appropriate dispositions at the

same time that it molds the currents to which they will thus respond. Durkheim

did not deny, therefore, that individual motives have a share in determining who

commits suicide but he did insist that the nature and intensity of the

"suicidogenic" current were factors independent of such psychological conditions.

Indeed, this was why Durkheim could claim that his theory, however
"deterministic," was more consistent with the philosophical doctrine of free will

than any psychologistic theory which makes the individual the source of social

phenomena; for the intensity of his currents, like the virulence of an infectious

disease, determines only the rate at which the population will be affected, not the

identity of those to be struck down. (Cf Lukes, 1987)

Conceptual Framework

The diagram below shows the conceptual framework of the study, which

serves a guide of the flow of the study.

Sigmund Freud’s
Psychodynamic Theory Revised
by Karl A. Menninger

Social Media Number of Suicidal

Active Users Records and
 Data Gathered
 Data Structuring
(Included)

Figure 1: The Conceptual Framework of the Study

In this paper, the researchers would want to prove if social media had any

significant relationship between the suicidal cases. The above figure shows the

pathway or flow toward achieving the desired target of the researchers. The

above figure includes the theory, interpretation of data gathered activity proposed

here with.

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the Problem

 The following questions are used as a tool to answer the main thesis of

the paper. The questions below were made to recognize the findings of the

study.

1. What are the profile of respondents in terms of:

a. Age

b. Sex

c. Gender

2. What are the contributing factors of using social media towards committing

suicide?

3. What are the psychological effects of using social media in committing

suicide?

4. Is there a significant relationship between social media use and the

number of suicidal cases?

5. What are the behavioural and physical effects of using social media that

may lead to feeling down?

Hypothesis of the Study

The following are the hypothesis of the study. The following hypothesis

are the educated guess of the researchers to specify the relationship of the two

variables of the study as the paper progress.

Ho1: There is no significant factor/correlation between social media and

suicidal cases.
 Ho2: There is a significant factor/correlation between social media and

suicidal cases.

Ho1: There is no significance between Age and using social media

towards suicidal cases.

Ho2: There is a significance between Age and using social media towards

suicidal cases.

Ho1: There is no significance between Sex and using social media

towards suicidal cases.

Ho2: There is a significance between Sex and using social media towards

suicidal cases.

Ho1: There is no significant correlation between Gender and using social

media toward suicidal cases.

Ho2: There is a significant correlation between Gender and using social

media toward suicidal cases.

Significance of the Study

 The urge to know and educate people about the usage of social media,

entices the researchers to conduct the study paper. This idea along born in the

cognitive and emotional parts of the researchers can globally trade information’s

about factors of the technological inventions towards producing, a series of

deaths: aside from the researcher’s personal interest in the matter, the outcome

of the study will benefit the following:

Teenagers. They will be enlightened on the negative and positive effects

of using social media as well as its contribution to the rising number of suicidal

cases around the country.

Parents. They will educate their children about the proper uses of social

media and the proper etiquettes they should possess. Also this will be a

reference to parents who are depressed and may commit suicide via social

media.

Helping Professionals. Psychologist, school guidance counsellor and

even social workers will benefit this study as an additional reference to their

guiding principles.

Internet/Sites Providers. Will basically grasps some information’s about

limiting some sites that may contribute to depression or psychological

destruction.

Future Researchers. Used as their guide or source for further studies

with/or relating to the usage of social media and it is relation to suicidal cases in

any field of the specialization.

Limitation of the Study

The researchers study the Relationship of using social media with the

suicidal cases. This study is conducted in only one barangay of Cebu City

namely Barangay Mabolo, with five divisions of age bracket starting from the age

15-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56-65.

The researchers also selected the barangay as the research environment,

since researchers are comfortable with the place and easy for them to gather

data’s, as they were residents of the abovementioned barangay.

Figure 2: The Jurisdiction Map of Barangay Mabolo, Cebu CitY

Research Subjects

The respondents of this study were males and females, and LGBTQIA of

each barangay and age bracket. Therefore, the total number of respondents was

155 individuals who are actively using social networking sites and has a history

of suicide attempts. The researchers derived the 155 number of respondents

using the computation for determining the sample size.

Research Instrument

To get the data needed the researchers used the following instruments.

And these instruments were based from the researchers made questionnaires.

Questionnaire- serves as the bases towards filling the required data for

interpretation the answers serve as the recent record of the Government

for the experiences and true manifestation of the victims and respondents.

2. Approval Letter- serves the bridged and starting point of everything before

we can go to the field and gather the data.

3. Pre-Testing Questionnaires- these questionnaires were extracted from the

actual questionnaire but only testing 10-15 students in order to test the

validity of the paper and validity of each question.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers will get the record of their ages, the number of

respondents and their gender, but in order to gather data that was needed for the

study, the researchers will make an approval letter permission to the Barangay

Captain so that researchers can asking conduct the study.

Also, the researchers will get a hold of suicidal cases within the restriction

of Cebu City. Basically, the researchers will tap with the Barangay of their

research location to gather the data.

Duration

The study has its specific date and time on when will be effective. The

duration of this study started on January during the opening of the 3 rd Semester

until March of the 4th Semester. During that time duration everything inside the

paper was being fully loaded, data, information, recommendations and things to

reconsider are already done. Pre-oral defence and Post-defence will be followed

together with the hardbound during the time duration.

 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Below are the list of terms used in the study. The definition that corresponds to it

are base from how the word is being used in the study.

Social Media: The term means the vital factor toward contributing the

rising number of social cases around the city. It is also the arena on which

suicidal cases attempts are basically present.

Cyberbullying: It refers to as one of the major causes of suicide among

teenagers, the mean of pornographic humiliation, bashing and human trafficking

that may lead to depression.

Suicidal Cases: This term means the case on which the researchers will

see through, upon as part of solving the Quanti-Quali paper in deterring the

outcomes of using social media.\

WSC Computation: This means that Weibo Social Communication

involves the psychological effects of technology toward the human mental,

physical, emotional and psychosocial areas. Explains the idea about

technological perspective versus the verbal/personal communication perspective

in the act of suicide.

Twitter, Facebook, Weibo: This signifies social media sites that

contribute majorly to the increasing number of suicidal cases and victims around

the edge of the country and in many countries such as China and USA.
 Chapter II

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This Chapter presents the Research Design, Flow of the Study, Determining of

Sample Size, Research Technique, The Subject, Research Instrument,

Validations of Research Instrument, Data Gathering Procedure, Data Processing

Method and Statistical Treatment.

Research Design
This study is a co relational study that indentifies the impact of the social

media towards suicidal cases.

Flow of the Study

The diagram below shows the flow of the study which serves as a guide of

the study to easily understood by the researchers.

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

The factors that Correlation with the use

contributes to the rising of researcher-made Conclusion and

number of suicidal questionnaire, Data Recommendation.

cases by the usage of gathering, Data

social media. Tabulation and

Statistical Treatment.
Determination of Sample Size

The study “The Relationship Between Social Media and Suicidal Cases”

entails the possibilities of using technological gadgets as a pre-requisite tool in

determining the number of suicide cases and factors within. In determining the

sample size, the researchers used the formula.

NV +Se 2 x [(1−p)]
Ss = NSe +[V 2 x p (1− p)]
Where:
Ss = Sample Size
N = Population
V = Standard Value (2.58)
Se = Sampling Error (0.01)
P = Largest Possible Population (0.50)

Research Technique

The technique used in the paper is a probabaility sampling. Specifically

Convenient Sampling since it is very convenient for the researchers to conduct

the study within the mentioned barangay since the researchers are residents

herewith. It could also be seen as a Purposive Sampling since the researchers

have certain purposes in mind.

Research Subjects

The respondents of this study were males and females, and LGBTQIA of

each barangay and age bracket. Therefore, the total number of respondents was

155 individuals who are actively using social networking sites and has a history
of suicide attempts. The researchers derived the 155 number of respondents

using the computation for determining the sample size.

Research Instrument

To get the data needed the researchers used the following instruments.

And these instruments were based from the researchers made questionnaires.

Questionnaire- serves as the bases towards filling the required data for

interpretation the answers serve as the recent record of the Government

for the experiences and true manifestation of the victims and respondents.

Approval Letter- serves the bridged and starting point of everything before

we can go to the field and gather the data.

Pre-Testing Questionnaires- these questionnaires were extracted from the

actual questionnaire but only testing 10-15 students in order to test the

validity of the paper and validity of each question.

Validation of Research Instrument

The researcher made questionnaire will be validated by the Research

Teacher.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers will get the record of their ages, the number of

respondents and their gender, but in order to gather data that is needed for the

study, the researchers will make an approval letter permission to the Barangay

Captain so that researchers can conduct the study.

 Also, the researchers will get a hold of suicidal cases within the restriction

of Cebu City. Basically, the researchers will tap with the Barangay of their

research location to gather the data.

Data Processing Method

The researcher will gather data from the target respondents by the use of

researcher made-questionnaire. Once the data gathered, the researcher will

then evaluate.

Statistical Treatment

To determine the sample size, the researchers used the determination

sample size formula.

NV +Se 2 x [(1−p)]
Ss = NSe +[V 2 x p (1− p)]

Where:
Ss = Sample Size
N = Population
V = Standard Value (2.58)
Se = Sampling Error (0.01)
P = Largest Possible Population (0.50)
 Chapter III

REVIEW RELATED LITERATURE

Social media and suicide is a relatively new phenomenon, which

influences suicide-related behavior. Suicide is a leading cause of death

worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, in the year 2020,

approximately 1.53 million people will die from suicide (Gvion&Apter, 2012).

There is increasing evidence that this behavior of using social media affects and

changes people's lives, especially in teenagers. Suicide has been identified not

only as an individual phenomenon, but it is influenced by social and

environmental factors (Gvion&Apter, 2012).

Cyberbullying is a huge problem linked to increases in suicide rates. One

explanation that has arisen is the cause and effect relationship between social

media advertised suicides and younger generations being influenced by them.

Aside from kids being influenced by suicide tendencies online, there is the

psychological explanation behind "15 minutes of fame". The first person who

committed suicide live on today's social media platforms - OcéaneEbem, an

eighteen-year-old woman from Égly in the suburbs of Paris - explicitly said, "I

want to communicate a message, and I want it to be passed around, even if it’s

very shocking” (Mason, 2008)

Just like there are a myriad of reasons why youth are drawn to suicide, the

reasons why some chose to publicly display the deliberate act of killing

themselves are not straightforward. Unlike older generations, who view social
media as an invasion of their privacy, youth seem particularly susceptible to

wanting to live-stream their suicides. Communicating through social networking

sites, chat rooms, forums, e-mail lists and discussion boards might make them

feel connected to the online community. Cognitive immaturity coupled with

spending a large portion of one’s day immersed in a medium that provides

instant gratification or rejection can possibly instil a sense of disconnectedness

from the reality of one’s own existence. Social media is a safe haven for

teenagers struggling with issues related to self-esteem or abandonment as they

instantly get the attention or the validation they are craving for in the form of

Facebook “likes” and Twitter “retweets.”(Negi, 2018)

Posting to the world the deliberate act of ending one’s life can possibly

serve different purposes. The combination of the quasi-feeling of connectedness

instilled by social media and the feeling that one can control one’s actions in the

privacy of the bedroom or bathroom might take away the solitary feeling of the

suicide act. The combined weight of vulnerability, need for validation and limited

decision making capacity might make it difficult for some youth to step back once

they have posted something pertaining to suicide on social media. Sharing

experiences can turn into an obsession about approval that can wreak havoc on

self-image. For some it can ultimately lead to suicide. If social currency, that is

the number of “likes” or “wows” or “retweets” or textual portrayal of a writer's

mood in the form of icons (emoji), is a pivotal measure for modern youths’ self-

esteem, then hanging or jumping off a building or overdosing on pills could seem
like no more than the equivalent of entering or exiting the world of virtual reality.

(Negi, 2018)

With the 21st century ingénue Cyberbullying playing the lead role in each

one of those dramas, we rarely hear examples of how social networking

promotes a healthy mental state and even prevents suicide in some instances.

Although the media continually make the connection, there is no conclusive

evidence that cyberbullying causes suicide. (YAW-CRC’s, 2013)

In a survey conducted by UNICEF Young Envoys in 2014, 90 percent of

363 parents said they had registered their children for extracurricular activities to

increase their competitiveness. Some students in these surveys had to attend 10

or more of these activities every week. (Glover, 2014)

"In Hong Kong, most people believe a degree from university equals one's

career prospects. Those who can't enter universities would be regarded as

'losers'," Annie Cheung, co-founder of the non-profit organization Love Our Kids,

told DW. (Cheung, 2014)

Tension arises between children and parents when academic results don't

meet parents' expectations, which then also leads to miscommunication, Cheung

added."Parents are spending less time with their children due to long working

hours. If parents only focus on children's academic results, their children will feel

they are neglected," Kate Ng from the NGO Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong
told DW.The government's investigative report also found that "lack of family

support and communications problems with parents contribute to youth

suicide."Ng's organization, which provides counseling services to people with

suicidal tendencies, said they are concerned with the recent youth suicide

problem and hope to reach out to at-risk youth by extending the service hours of

online chat rooms. (Ng, 2014)

According to a recent International Center for Media & the Public Affairs

(ICMPA) study, "students around the world reported that being tethered to digital

technology 24/7 is not just a habit, it is essential to the way they construct and

manage their friendships and social lives."

It’s crucial that we understand both the positive and negative sides to social

media, thereby putting cyber bullying into context and appreciating its place

amidst all of the benefits and opportunities that arise from digital connections.

(International Center for Media & the Public Affairs (ICMPA, 2006)

Dr. Victor Strasburger, a teen medicine specialist at the University of New

Mexico, said the study only implies a connection between teen suicides,

depression and social media. It shows the need for more research on new

technology, Strasburger said. He noted that skeptics who think social media is

being unfairly criticized compare it with so-called vices of past generations:

“When dime-store books came out, when comic books came out, when television

came out, when rock and roll first started, people were saying, ‘This is the end of

the world.' (Strasburger, 2017)

 The study's authors looked at CDC suicide reports from 2009-15 and

results of two surveys given to U.S. high school students to measure attitudes,

behaviors and interests. About half a million teens ages 13 to 18 were involved.

They were asked about use of electronic devices, social media, print media,

television and time spent with friends. Questions about mood included frequency

of feeling hopeless and considering or attempting suicide. (CDC, 2009-2015)

The researchers didn't examine circumstances surrounding individual

suicides. Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation

for Suicide Prevention, said the study provides weak evidence for a popular

theory and that many factors influence teen suicide. (Moutier, 2017)

Teens' use of electronic devices including smart phones for at least five

hours daily more than doubled, from eight (8) percent in 2009 to nineteen (19)

percent in 2015. These teens were 70 percent more likely to have suicidal

thoughts or actions than those who reported one hour of daily use.

In 2015, thirty six (36) percent of all teens reported feeling desperately sad

or hopeless, or thinking about, planning or attempting suicide, up from thirty-two

(32) percent in 2009. For girls, the rates were higher forty-five (45) percent in

2015 versus forty (40) percent in 2009.In 2009, fifty eight (58%) of 12th grade

girls used social media every day or nearly every day; by 2015, eighty-seven

(87%) used social media every day or nearly every day. They were fourteen
(14%) more likely to be depressed than those who used social media less

frequently. (Moutier, 2017)

"We need to stop thinking of smart phones as harmless," said study

author Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University who

studies generational trends. "There's a tendency to say, 'Oh, teens are just

communicating with their friends.' Monitoring kids' use of smart phones and

social media is important, and so is setting reasonable limits, she said. (Twenge,

2012)

An immense quantity of information on the topic of suicide is available on

the Internet and via social media. Analyzed the first ten (10) sites listed for each

search, for a total of two hundred forty (240) different sites. Approximately half

were pro-suicide Web sites and sites that provided factual information about

suicide. Pro-suicide sites and chat rooms that discussed general issues

associated with suicide most often occurred within the first few hits of a search.

We should note that this study primarily focused on pro-suicide search terms and

thus likely excluded many suicide prevention and support resource sites. (Biddle

et al., 2010)

Conducted a study that examined suicide-related sites that can be found

using Internet search engines. Of 373 Web site hits, thirty-one (31%) were

suicide neutral, twenty-nine (29%) were anti-suicide, and eleven (11%) were pro-

suicide. The remaining sites either did not load or included “suicide” in the title
but were not suicide sites (e.g., sites for movies and novels with “suicide” in their

title or music bands whose names included “suicide”). Together, these studies

have shown that obtaining pro-suicide information on the Internet, including

detailed information on suicide methods, is very easy. (Recupero et. al, 2011)

There are several specific ways that social media can increase risk for

pro-suicide behavior. Cyber bullying and cyber harassment, for example, are

serious and prevalent problems .Cyber bullying typically refers to when a child or

adolescent is intentionally and repeatedly targeted by another child or teen in the

form of threats or harassments or humiliated or embarrassed by means of

cellular phones or Internet technologies such as e-mail, texting, social networking

sites, or instant messaging. Cyber harassment and cyber stalking typically refer

to these same actions when they involve adults. A review of data collected

between 2004 and 2010 via survey studies indicated that lifetime cyber bullying

victimization rates ranged from 20.8% to 40.6% and offending rates ranged from

eleven point five (11.5%) to twenty point one (20.1%). (Shah,2010)

The media's influence on suicidal behavior, especially suicide methods

used, has been well documented, and social media may possibly increase the

risk of the media contagion effect, especially among young people. A recent

study by specifically examined possible contagion effects on suicidal behavior via

the Internet and social media. Of seven hundred nineteen (719) individuals aged

fourteen (14) to twenty-four (24) years, seventy-nine (79%) reported being

exposed to suicide-related content through family, friends, and traditional news

media such as newspapers, and fifty-nine (59%) found such content through

Internet sources. Additional analysis revealed no link between social networking

sites (e.g., Facebook) and suicidal ideation, but it did find a connection between

suicidal ideation and suicide-related content found on online forums. (Dunlop, et

al, 2010)

Lewis examined the accessibility and content of the most popular

YouTube videos associated with non-suicidal self-injury, such as self-cutting,

burning, and hitting oneself. In 2009, they conducted a search on the keywords

“self-injury” and “self-harm” via YouTube's search option and rated and analyzed

the fifty (50) most-viewed character videos (featuring live individuals) and fifty

(50) most-viewed non-character videos. Their results showed that the top videos

had more than two (2) million viewers and more than half fifty eight (58%) had no

viewer restrictions, such as requiring viewers to validate that they are aged 18

years or older. Lewis et al. reported that of the videos that were retrievable during

coding, forty-two (42) were neutral (neither promoted nor discouraged non-

suicidal self-injury, twenty-six (26) were against self-injury, twenty three (23)

provided a mixed message (both for and against self-injury), and seven (7) were

pro–self-injury. Sixty-four percent had visual representations (such as

photographs) of self-harming, specifically cutting the author suggested that these

results represent an alarming trend that may foster communities in which non-

suicidal self-injury is encouraged and therefore increase the risk for self-injurious

behavior. (Lewis, et. al, 2010)

 An analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August

found the suicide rate among teenage girls ages 15 to 19 hit a 40-year high in

2015. Between 2007 and 2015, the rates doubled among girls and rose by more

than thirty (30) percent among teen boys.(CDCP,2015)

Social media platforms such as chat rooms and discussion forums may also

pose a risk for vulnerable groups by influencing decisions to die by suicide. In

particular, interactions via chat rooms or discussion forums may foster peer

pressure to die by suicide encourage users to idolize those who have completed

suicide, or facilitate suicide pacts. Ultimately, these interactions may reduce the

doubts or fears of people who are ambivalent about suicide. A trend also appears

to be emerging in which people use social media to leave suicide notes. Suicide

notes left by individuals via social media are shared with the public

instantaneously and may influence the decisions of other vulnerable people who

encounter them. (June, 2009)

Social media may also pose a hazard to vulnerable people through the

formation and influence of “extreme communities”—online groups that promote

and provide support for beliefs and behaviors normally unacceptable by the

social mainstream such as anorexia, suicide, and deliberate amputation. Similar

to users of pro–eating disorder sites, users of prosuicide sites may find support

and acceptance that they have not found through other means. Although these
online groups may provide the benefit of support, they may present a risk to the

public by encouraging vulnerable individuals to harm themselves. (Luxton, 2008)

In sum, evidence is growing that social media can influence prosuicide

behavior. Because the Internet eliminates geographic barriers to communication

between people, the emergence of prosuicide social media sites may present a

new risk to vulnerable people who might otherwise not have been exposed to

these potential hazards. (Fairall, 2004)

The Internet has also provided a way for people to obtain how-to

descriptions of suicide as well as lethal means to kill them. Unregulated online

pharmacies outside of the United States have posed a significant risk to the

public. For example; the author described the case of a man in his 30s who

committed suicide by overdosing on clomipramine bought from an online

pharmacy outside the United States that did not require a prescription.

Unfortunately, despite the development over the past decade of increased

regulations and accreditation of Internet pharmacies through organizations such

as the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, the fight against unregulated

online pharmacies that distribute unapproved or counterfeit drugs continues

worldwide.This suicide outbreak was blamed on the introduction of the gas-

related method on message boards via the Internet. (Beatson, et al. 2009)

Related Literatures
 In the book entitled “Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major

Works” It talks about the concrete definition of suicide and the factors that affect

to it. It also tackles the four major works of Durkheim on his earliest of times, he

define and differentiated the three types of suicide and according to the factors

that correponds to it such as technology, family, environment and peers.

(Durkheim, 1897)

Is suicide, then, as the Italian statisticians Ferri and Morselli believed, an

effect of the mechanical influence of heat on the cerebral functions? Durkheim

here objected on both conceptual and empirical grounds -- that this theory

presumes that the constant psychological antecedent of suicide is a state of

extreme excitation, where in fact it is frequently preceded by depression; and, in

any case, that the suicide rate is in decline in July and August, and thus does not

vary regularly with temperature. The "revised" Italian argument -- that it is the

contrast between the departing cold and the beginning of the warm season that

stimulates the psychological predispositions -- was equally rejected by Durkheim

as inconsistent with the perfect continuity (steady increase from January to June,

steady decrease from July to December) of the curve representing the monthly

variations of the suicide rate.(Morselli et. Al, 1897)

Consistent with the argument of The Rules (Chapter VI) Durkheim insisted

that such a perfectly continuous variation could be explained only by causes

themselves varying with the same continuity; and, as a first clue to the nature of

these causes, he pointed out that the proportional share of each month in the
total number of annual suicides is perfectly parallel with the average length of the

day at the same time of the year and the techno-gadget users. Other clues

follow: suicide is more common by day than by nights in morning and afternoon

than at midday, and on weekdays than on weekends (except for an increase of

female suicides on Sundays). In every case, Durkheim observed, suicide

increases in those months, days of the week and hours of the day when social

life is most active, and decreases when collective activity declines. Anticipating

the argument of Book Two, Durkheim thus suggested that suicide is the

consequence of the intensity of social life; but before he could proceed to explain

how such a cause might produce such an effect, Durkheim had to deal with one

other "psychological" theory -- Tarde's argument that social facts in general, and

suicide in particular, can be explained as the consequence of imitation.

(Durkheim,1897)

Durkheim first asked the different religious confessions affect suicide

without asking about the coherent functions of social media to it. If we look at a

map of Western Europe, for example many are religious yet most of them are

active social media users, we see that where Protestants are most numerous the

suicide rate is highest, that where Catholics predominate it is much lower, and

that the aptitude of Jews for suicide is lower still, though to a lesser degree, than

that of Catholics.(Woznica et al, 1990)

But if excessive individuation thus leads to suicide, so does insufficient

individuation: thus, among primitive peoples, we find several categories of

suicide -- men on the threshold of old age, women upon the deaths of their

husbands, followers and servants upon the deaths of their chiefs -- in which the

person kills himself because it is his duty or he is bound by a force pushing

his/her. Such a sacrifice, Durkheim argued, is imposed by society for social

purposes; and for society to be able to do this, the individual personality must

have little value, a state Durkheim called altruism. (Rosenthal et. al, 1984)

Egoistic and altruistic suicide, as we have seen, are the respective

consequences of the individual's insufficient or excessive integration within the

society to which he belongs. But quite aside from integrating its members, a

society must control and regulate their beliefs and behavior as well; and

Durkheim insisted that there is a relation between a society's suicide rate and the

way it performs this important regulative function. Industrial and financial crises,

for example, increase the suicide rate, a fact commonly attributed to the decline

of economic well-being these crises produce. But the same increase in the

suicide rate, Durkheim observed, is produced by crisis resulting in economic

prosperity; "Every disturbance of equilibrium," he insisted, "even though it

achieved greater comfort and a heightening of general vitality, is an impulse to

voluntary death. This is what Durkheim calls the Anomic Suicide and

technological aspect was part of it since it declines the economic growth yet tries

to use things that may cause unbalanced in the equilibrium- social media for

instance.(Holm-Denoma et. al, 2008)

 Such an argument, Durkheim admitted suggests that collective thoughts

are of a different nature from individual thoughts, that the former have

characteristics which the latter lack. But how can this be if there are only

individuals in society? Durkheim's response was an argument by analogy alluded

to in The Division of Labor and developed more fully in "Individual and Collective

Representations" (1898). The biological cell, Durkheim observed, is made up

exclusively of inanimate atoms; but surely this doesn't mean that there is "nothing

more" in animate nature. Similarly individual human beings, by associating with

one another, form a psychical existence of a new species, which has its own

manner of thinking and feeling: "When the consciousness of individuals, instead

of remaining isolated, becomes grouped and combined," Durkheim observed,

"something in the world has been altered. Naturally this change produces others,

this novelty engenders other novelties, phenomena appear whose characteristic

qualities are not found in the elements composing them.Social life, Durkheim

thus admitted, is essentially made up of representations; but collective

representations are quite different from their individual counterparts. Indeed,

Durkheim had no objection to calling sociology a kind of psychology, so long as

we recall that social psychology has its own laws which are not those

of individual psychology.(Berman et. al,2003)

Like The Division of Labor in Society, Suicide concludes with some

thoroughly practical questions: What attitude should modern societies take

towards suicide when theres a rampant usage of social media within the

process? Should reforms be undertaken to restrain it? Or must we accept it as it

is? Again as in The Division of Labor, Durkheim's answers to these questions

depended on whether the current state of suicide is to be considered "normal" or

"abnormal," and, as he had already shown through the example of crime in The

Rules of Sociological Method, the "immorality" of suicide did not necessarily point

to the latter. On the contrary, the statistical data going back to the eighteenth

century, as well as legislation surviving from still earlier periods, suggested to

Durkheim that suicide was a normal element in the constitution of all societies. In

primitive societies and the modern military, for example, the strict subordination

of the individual to the group renders altruistic suicide an indispensable part of

collective discipline. Again, in societies where the dignity of the person is the

supreme end of conduct, egoistic suicide flourishes. And again, in societies

where economic progress is rapid and social restraints become slack, anomie

suicides are inevitable. (Muehlenkamp et. al, 2009)

Which social groups were best prepared to exercise this reintegrative

function? Certainly not the state, Durkheim insisted, for political society is too

distant from the individual to affect his life forcefully and continuously since the

social media is withoin the breach of every humans hands without the

governemnts full enforcement to eradicate social medias negativities against

sociological factors. Neither is religion a binding force; for while the Roman

Catholic Church once exercised an integrative influence, it did so at the cost of a

freedom of thought it no longer has the authority to command since biblical

verses are often found on the internet but not being used instead sites that aren’t

biblical are much more comprehensed. Even the family, traditionally the central
cohesive force in the life of the individual, has proved susceptible to the same

disintegrative currents responsible for the rapid increase of suicide. In fact, the

state, religion, and the family were able to prevent suicides only because they

were cohesive before but not on modern times when social media is on the walls

of buildings, integrated societies in themselves; and, having lost that character,

they no longer have that effect.(Kaslow et. al,2000)

But there is a group -- the "occupational group" or "social media/

technological corporation" -- that has enormous integrative and thus preventative

potential. "Its influence on individuals is not intermittent," Durkheim emphasized

for "it is always in contact with them by the constant exercise of the function of

which it is the organ and in which they collaborate. It follows the workers

wherever they go.... Wherever they are, they find it enveloping them, recalling

them to their duties, supporting them at need and that’s whata social media is

doing trailing people on all corners. Finally," he concluded, " social media is a

helpful tool as part of sociological growth but a destructive thing for the

psychological state.(Durkheim,1897)

“If you use social media to ruminate about how bad your life is, it will be

associated with negative feelings, but it can also be used to improve self-

confidence,” said study co-author Dr. Christopher Ferguson, of Stetson

University. He added that it is about how people use social media, as its

existence is neither good, nor bad. He also said that people using social media

as a way to connect with others is not a bad thing. (Martina C., 2017)
 Meanwhile, Filipinos registered worldwide as the users having spent the

most time on social media websites, according to a We Are Social and social

media management platform Hootsuite.

Filipinos spent an average of four hours and 17 minutes daily using

Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter, followed by Brazil with three hours and 43

minutes of average usage. The Japanese, who scored the lowest, use social

media on average 40 minutes daily. (Martina C., 2017)

Related Studies

In the recent study conducted by Biddle and Eichenberg. Social media

platforms, such as chat rooms, blogging Web sites (e.g., Tumblr, Reddit), video

sites (e.g., YouTube), social networking sites (e.g.,

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google+), as well as e-mail, text messaging,

and video chat, have transformed traditional methods of communication by

allowing the instantaneous and interactive sharing of information created and

controlled by individuals, groups, organizations, and governments. As of the third

quarter of 2015, Facebook had 1.55 billion monthly active users. An immense

quantity of information on the topic of suicide is available on the Internet and via

social media. The information available on social media on the topic of suicide
can influence suicidal behavior, both negatively and positively. (Biddle et al.

2008)

Eichenberg and Biddle conducted a systematic Web search study of 12

suicide-associated terms (e.g., suicide, suicide methods, how to kill yourself, and

best suicide methods) to analyze the search results and found that pro-suicide

sites and chat rooms that discussed general issues associated with suicide most

often occurred within the first few hits of a search. Recupero et al . also conducted

a study that examined suicide-related sites that can be found using

Internet search engines. Of 373 Web site hits, 31% were suicide neutral, 29%

were anti-suicide, and 11% were pro-suicide. Together, these studies have

shown that obtaining pro-suicide information on the Internet, including detailed

information on suicide methods, is very easy.

Although, the public opinion is that message boards are harmful, the

following studies show how they point to suicide prevention and have positive

influences. A study using content analysis analyzed all of the postings on the

AOL Suicide Bulletin Board over 11 months, and concluded that most

contributions contained positive, empathetic and supportive postings

(Eichenberg, 2008). Then, a multi-method study was able to demonstrate that the

users of such forums experience a great deal of social support and only a small

amount of social strain. (Eichenberg, 2008).

Locally in the Phillipines, The need for more Philippine studies along the

lines that have been conducted abroad on online bashing, especially among

adolescents, is urgent and acute. The Philippines reportedly leads the world in
terms of most time spent on social media each day; and “six out of 10 young

people aged 15 to 24 years old are regular internet users and more than half

have social network and email accounts,” according to a study on media use and

youth lifestyle by Dr. Grace Cruz released by the Demographic Research and

Development Foundation and the University of the Philippines Population

Institute.(Dunlop et. al,2014)

The study was done in 2014 yet. The online landscape has, in many ways,

become even more vicious since then. How it’s affecting the mental health of

Filipinos plugged into it 24/7 should be an ongoing concern.

The Kaspersky survey also revealed that many children would rather hide

incidents of cyberbullying from their parents, preferring to bottle up their

conflicted feelings. This inability to open up may lead to depressive behaviors

and anxiety disorders that may not be immediately noticeable, or addressed in

time. According to an October 2016 story in Time magazine, “many people do

not seek help for anxiety and depression. A 2015 report from the Child Mind

Institute found that only about 20 percent of young people with a diagnosable

anxiety disorder get treatment. (Dunlop et. al, 2014)

Locally, Department of Health spokesperson Enrique Tayag specifically

dwelled on the issue of what he called the “new face of depression on social

media,” with online bashing seen as a new front that may be contributing to a

spike in the number of people afflicted by depression, even thoughts of suicide,

after adverse interactions online. While the DOH admits that local data on
cyberbullying are still being gathered, on depression itself it cites the report by

the National Center for Mental Health that there were 3,479 callers to the

Hopeline suicide prevention hotlines in 2016. (CNN Phils, 2015)

Justification of the Proposed Study

The study entitling “The Relationship between Social Media and Suicide.”

Had five major theories that corresponds to it or answers the questions used as a

validation and justification of the paper. The five theories were Mann-Whitney-

Wilcoxon Theory that focuses on the average usage of technological gadgets

and social networking sites as a pre-requisite tool to determine the total number

of suicide cases. On the other note, the Theory of Sociological and Technological

Suicide by Wentworth Miller focuses on the idea that the people have risks of

committing suicide due to the lack of peer support and may lead to issues of

using technologies that may contribute to the human-beings downfall. Thirdly,

supporting the researchers study is the theory of Thomas E. Joiner and

colleagues also known as the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, this relates to the

researchers study since it tackles the repeated suffering of the person from a bad

experiences. Cyberbullying is a major example of this theory since a repeated act

of embarrasing someone might lead to feeling down or may contest to suicidal

acts. In the fourth note, the fourth theory that corresponds and supported the

researchers study is the theory of Sigmund Freud. Freud introduced the idea that

the mind is divided into multiple parts, including the irrational and impulsive Id (a
representation of primal animal desires), the judgmental super-ego (a

representation of society inside the mind), and the rational ego which attempts to

bridge the divide between the other two parts. He popularized the idea that the

mind has conscious and unconscious parts which can conflict with one another,

producing a phenomena called repression (a state where you are unaware of

certain troubling motives or wishes or desires). This theory may lead to an

uderstanding that people have egos and those egos might lead to an

understanding that people are much concern with what people are thinking about

them. Judging from the percepts this could lead to concious mind and

unconcious mind that may bring suicidal thoughts. Finally the theory of Emile

Durkheim best supports the study conducted by the researchers since it focuses

on the idea of sociology and environmental factors that highlighted the suicidal

note. Motives of committing suicide are discussed on this theory such as:

Environmental Motives, Family Conflicts, Peer pressure and Technological

blunders.

Conclusively studies were also presented to justify the study entitled

“Relationship Between Social Media and Suicidal Cases”. The study of Emile

Durkheim best supports the paper were he frankly stated the types of suicide

depnding on the factors as pre-mentioned on her theory above. Philippine

Studies are also presented such as the DOH whose study reflects the number of

suicidal cases as stated by Randy Tayag on his very speech published by the

CNN news. On the bottommost of the paper, it is justified truest and theories,

studies and articles are hereby laid upon.

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Maps

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APPENDICES

Below are the Appendices of the study. These appendices are used in

gathering the data, validation of the paper and retrieval of logo.

Appendix A

The Respondents Questionnaire

Appendix B
 The Barangay Official Permission Letter

Appendix C

Permission to use the Mabolo NHS Logo

CURRICULUM VITAE