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Recently, a group of high school girls jumped to their deaths in Matsudo, Japan, and the video trended on Twitter, and it showed up at the top of relevant searc

Recently, a group of high school girls jumped to their deaths in Matsudo, Japan, and the video trended on Twitter, and it showed up at the top of relevant searches for 'suicide'. To be honest, I think the priority display of this kind of shocking content is a problem not only for TikTok, but for social media in general.

greenhearth 4y ago
There's a chapter in Malcolm Gladwell's famous "The Tipping Point" that deals with waves of teenage suicides. He describes that a single suicide acts as a subliminal permission for this behavior to be mimicked. This permission is sent out as a beacon and susceptible agents replicate this behavior. I forget the details of it, but the point was that this could be extended to other behavior as well, possibly all behavior. The underlying connotation is that humans take on pack roles as pack animals, and are rewarded by connective activities, even suicide, as crazy as it sounds. Social media is a conduit of behavior modeling. It is best for everyone to realize this.
- rchaud 4y ago
  Gladwell's a good writer, but almost never backs up his positions with empirical evidence. I don't mind too much because I like his writing, but I wouldn't really trust his theories too much because he is a storyteller first.
  - jandrese 4y ago
    He has a bad habit of cherry picking data to support his point.
  - dabluecaboose 4y ago
    For what it's worth, media contagion[1] has been a well-known factor in suicides for decades [1] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00031539.htm https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00031539.htm
    - kgwgk 4y ago
      Centuries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther#Cultural_impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther#C...
  - mikey_p 4y ago
    This is something that has been documented and analyzed in meta studies as well: https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m575 https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m575
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
  > this could be extended to other behavior I recall a story someone told (can't remember if it was a co-worker or a comment on this site) about someone in an office who stood up from their desk at 4:00 on a Friday, said, "I guess I'll take one for the team," and walked out the door. Sounds a bit like that.
ilyt 4y ago
The old school news media outlets would plaster that story on front page, it's not something new to social media
- mikey_p 4y ago
  No, actually most of the traditional news media (print, TV, radio) declines to report on suicide due to documented risks to increase in suicide rates following news about a suicide: https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m575 https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m575

greenhearth 4y ago

There's a chapter in Malcolm Gladwell's famous "The Tipping Point" that deals with waves of teenage suicides. He describes that a single suicide acts as a subliminal permission for this behavior to be mimicked. This permission is sent out as a beacon and susceptible agents replicate this behavior. I forget the details of it, but the point was that this could be extended to other behavior as well, possibly all behavior. The underlying connotation is that humans take on pack roles as pack animals, and are rewarded by connective activities, even suicide, as crazy as it sounds. Social media is a conduit of behavior modeling. It is best for everyone to realize this.

rchaud 4y ago
Gladwell's a good writer, but almost never backs up his positions with empirical evidence. I don't mind too much because I like his writing, but I wouldn't really trust his theories too much because he is a storyteller first.
- jandrese 4y ago
  He has a bad habit of cherry picking data to support his point.
- dabluecaboose 4y ago
  For what it's worth, media contagion[1] has been a well-known factor in suicides for decades [1] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00031539.htm https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00031539.htm
  - kgwgk 4y ago
    Centuries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther#Cultural_impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther#C...
- mikey_p 4y ago
  This is something that has been documented and analyzed in meta studies as well: https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m575 https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m575
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
> this could be extended to other behavior I recall a story someone told (can't remember if it was a co-worker or a comment on this site) about someone in an office who stood up from their desk at 4:00 on a Friday, said, "I guess I'll take one for the team," and walked out the door. Sounds a bit like that.

ilyt 4y ago

The old school news media outlets would plaster that story on front page, it's not something new to social media

mikey_p 4y ago
No, actually most of the traditional news media (print, TV, radio) declines to report on suicide due to documented risks to increase in suicide rates following news about a suicide: https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m575 https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m575