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Has Social Media Fuelled a Teen-Suicide Crisis?

Mental-health struggles have risen sharply among young Americans, and parents and lawmakers alike are scrutinizing life online for answers.

Sexual abuse and exploitation feature often in the allegations: A girl attempted suicide twice when she was eleven, having been contacted by men on Roblox and then Discord, one of whom inveigled her into sending explicit photographs on Snapchat, where photos disappear (though they can still be screenshotted). They pointed to a sense of impotence and purposelessness; climate change; the brutal language of modern politics; intolerance for their gender, race, or sexuality; bleak financial prospects and diminished social mobility; an inability ever to feel that they had caught up, as though their brains were slower than their lives; and acute loneliness, even among those who appeared not to be lonely. Some of the senators who had spoken earlier also made remarks at the rally, as did the attorney general of New Mexico, the Facebook whistle-blower Arturo Béjar, and a youth activist named Zamaan Qureshi, who announced that a “coalition of young people” was determined “to take back control of our lives from social-media companies.” Arielle Geismar, George Washington University’s student-body president at the time, said, “We were forced to play a dopamine slot machine at the expense of our life.”

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