SUICIDE: The Dramatic Rise in Numbers

Depression has become more prevalent among the younger population, and with untreated depression often comes suicide. However, depression can be treated and suicide can be prevented.

https://twitter.com/Just_KillMeNow_/status/592096818680303616

https://twitter.com/equinox_xpulse/status/592097200903065600

What is Suicide? Where Does it Come From?

https://twitter.com/brokensoul_12/status/591340872022814720

According to Merriam-Webster, Suicide is the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally especially by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind. Suicide stems from depression which is a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant.

Depression isn't always a choice. You think these people choose to get so depressed to the point where they want to give up? Think again

— Chris Ryan (@ChrisxRyan) April 25, 2015

https://twitter.com/Suicide/status/160038492230008832

Theresa Perlman, WSU University Counselor at CAPS

https://twitter.com/Suicide/status/95668528530722816

People who battle depression are often unable to live in a normal way. Suicide is described as a serious public health problem that takes an enormous toll on families, friends, classmates, co-workers, and communities, as well as on our military personnel and veterans (AFSP).

Pamela Purifoy, Youth Service Worker at WHS

Uncovering the reason why an individual decided to kill themselves is complex and challenging. Research shows that 90% of people who die by suicide had a potentially treatable mental disorder at the time of their death—a disorder that often has gone unrecognized and untreated (AFSP).

Wayne State University sophmore, Marlecia Premise, has dealt with depression her whole life, and she has overcame multiple suicide attempts in the past. She says that many people feel like suicide is a form of escaping the difficulties people face in life.

 

Statistics

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students and youth ages 10 to 24. Find out more on http://t.co/J0t7e03YwO #hive55

— MaKayla Woods (@MaKayla_C_Woods) April 27, 2015

According to SAVE-Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Depression affects about 20-25% of all Americans ages 18+ in a given year. 80% -90% of people who seek help for depression are treated successfully using therapy and/or medication, but only half of Americans experiencing an episode of major depression receives treatment.

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US for all ages and suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in the world for those aged 15-44 years. For teens ages 15 to 24, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death, and it is also the 4th leading cause of death for adults ages 18-65 (SAVE).

https://twitter.com/Suicide/status/103108146360356864

According to AFSP, in 2013, 41,149 Americans committed suicide. Suicide accounted for 12.6 deaths for every 100,000 people nationwide, and suicide continues to claim more lives each year. SAVE explains that every day, approximately 105 Americans commit suicide, and there is one death by suicide in the US every 13 minutes. There is one suicide death for every estimated 25 suicide attempts.

Globally, over 800,000 people die by suicide every year. There is one suicide death in the world every 40 seconds. An estimated quarter million people each year become suicide survivors (SAVE).

Pamela Purifoy, Youth Service Worker at WHS

Marlecia Premise, sophmore at WSU

Theresa Perlman, WSU University Counselor at CAPS

Seeking Help

Ways to fight depression • Hug a tree. • Cuddle. • Hug a friend. • Text someone you care about. • Smile more. • Listen to music.

— Fact (@Fact) April 24, 2015

There are many resources for someone seeking help with depression.

For Wayne State University students, CAPS-Counseling and Psychological Services is one resource that can help someone who is feeling depressed and who is having thoughts of suicide. CAPS provides one on one counseling with individuals, and also group therapy to help those who are having thoughts of suicide.

Another good resource is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help someone who feels like they no longer have the desire to keep living. They can be reached by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255). “No matter what problems you are dealing with, we want to help you find a reason to keep living” (NSPL).

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is another great resource for someone to gain more knowledge about suicide, and learn ways in which they can help someone feeling suicidal. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention helps with someone coping with the loss of someone to suicide, and also someone who is feeling suicidal themselves. Every year, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention organizes Out of the Darkness community walks, campus walks, and overnight walks across the U.S. to bring suicide out of the darkness and one day end Suicide altogether. The walks are in honor of all the lives that have been lost to suicide and for the families, friends, colleagues, and supporters of suicide victims.

Wayne State junior Megan Cory discusses her lost and her experience being a part of the AFSP’s Out of the Darkness walk.

If any teens are struggling with depression, Wolverine Human Services is another option for helping teens coping with depression. They will take children in who are dealing with abuse, neglect, and depression and mentor and care for them to help them overcome the problems that they are facing.

 

Things to Look For

Theresa Perlman, WSU University Counselor at CAPS

Every life is valuable. Depression is treatable. And suicide is 100% preventable. Read more on http://t.co/J0t7e03YwO #hive55

— MaKayla Woods (@MaKayla_C_Woods) April 27, 2015

https://twitter.com/brokensoul_12/status/590062527263944704

The most important thing to remember is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Sources

“Understanding Suicide.” American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. <https://www.afsp.org/understanding-suicide&gt;.

“Save. Suicide Awareness Voices of Education.” SAVE. GlobalCloud, 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. <http://www.save.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=705D5DF4-055B-F1EC-3F66462866FCB4E6&gt;.

“Suicide.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suicide&gt;.

“Depression.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/depression&gt;.

What’s Virality? Reviewing the Process of Going Viral

What is the going viral process and what constitutes virality?

Nahon, Karine, and Jeff Hemsley. Going Viral. Cambridge: Polity Press. 2013. Print.

“Virality is a social information flow process where many people simultaneously forward a specific information item, over a short period of time, within their social networks, and where the message spreads beyond their own [social] networks to different, often distant networks, resulting in a sharp acceleration in the number of people who are exposed to the message.” (Nahon, Hemsley, 2013, p. 16)

The book Going Viral by Karine Nahon and Jeff Hemsley is an in-depth look at how media goes viral. By media I mean a post or a tweet on Twitter or Facebook, or even a video on YouTube. The book begins by breaking down virality and discussing what is meant by virality. Nahon and Hemsley discuss how virality is a complex process with multiple components and in the book they provide a theoretical model to help the reader understand how virality works and the effects that it can have on individuals, collectives, and institutions, and how it feeds back into and effects social systems.

“Viral events are  a mechanism of reproduction and transformation of social structures.” (Nahon, Hemsley, 2013, p. 104)

There are many different components in virality and at times understanding the different aspects was very confusing. Each chapter of Going Viral focused on a different step or set of steps in the process of something going viral.

Chapter one opens by giving some examples of viral videos and tweets, such as Susan Boyle when she sang “I Dreamed a Dream” at her audition for Britain’s Got Talent, or how Keith Urbahn’s tweet about the assassination of Osama bin Laden went viral.

The book then moves on to talk about how gatekeepers, and strong or weak ties play a role in the process of something going viral. The book emphasizes the key conceptual elements of virality which is the human and social aspects of information sharing from one to another, the speed of spread, the reach in terms of the number of people exposed to the content, and the number in terms of the distance the information travels by bridging multiple networks.

One thing Nahon and Hemsley explains very well is that virality follows a sigmoid curve where at first “the growth within the network is relatively slow, but then it speeds up,” and then slows again.

One of the books strongest points is that it does a great job using diagrams and graphs to help emphasize the main points of virality. I also love how Going Viral uses  real life examples that help the reader relate to the going viral process.

My favorite example used is when they use PSY’s Gangnam Style to explain “virality’s role in reproduction and transformation of social structure.” I really liked this example because I love Korean culture and I can relate to how this video can be perceived in different ways depending on if you are an American who knows Korean culture, an American who doesn’t know Korean culture, or an actual Korean person who has lived in Korea. I feel like in many ways this song can be viewed as controversial or sexists and I liked how this example helped me better understand virality.

The weakest part of Going Viral is that there is a lot of repetition. After a while the book gets boring because of how often everything is repeated. I wish this book could have used more examples of virality instead of reusing the same one over and over again.

Overall though, Going Viral is a complex book, but it is well explained and once completed you completely understand the full process of virality.

Here are two more reviews of the book Going Viral. 

Are You Safe?

Posting Safely on Social Media

Are there safety or security issues to consider when posting on social networks?

The answer to this question is yes, there are many safety issues to consider when posting something online. According to SOCIAL NETWORKS AND THE NEWS: KEY ISSUES by Eric Carvin, he list some of the safety issues that people should pay attention to when posting things online. He talks about how no matter who you work for, or why you are posting, that you must be careful about what you post because it can put the person who you are talking about in danger. He says that before posting you must think about what possible issues could possibly arise from your tweet or post, or who you can potentially harm from your tweet or post. By carelessly uploading a tweet or by nonchalantly posting something on Facebook, a source or a fellow journalist could be hurt or put in danger and as a journalist you want to watch out for that. It is important not to post tweets that reveal someone’s location, especially if they are putting their life in danger by talking with you, or if it tells someones location during a war zone. He says when in doubt skip the tweet or post and I completely agree. I think that at times people give away too much information and people’s private business does not need to be all over the internet. Although Carvin discussed rules for giving away other people’s information, it is also important to remember not to post personal information about yourself as well. Stay Safe Online is a good site to go to for finding ways to stay safer online. I think all of these tips are important because we now live in a technological world where one post can change someone’s life, whether for the good or for the bad. You have to make sure to respect others online, but also remember to respect yourself because you can put you or your family in danger by posting or tweeting the wrong thing.

My Top Asian Stories of the Week

Here are the stories that I thought were interesting that all deal with a different country in Asia. Some stories are entertainment based and others are news stories that have went global.

Japan

There is controversy surrounding the winner of the Miss Japan pageant, Ariana Miyamoto, who is part Japanese and part African-American. People are arguing that she is not Japanese enough because of her African-American father.

South Korea

Breaking news just confirmed, actor Lee Min-Ho and Miss A’s Suzy also known as Korea’s Sweetheart, have been confirmed to be dating. This may be a shocker to some since Suzy is 20 and Lee Min-Ho is seven years her senior.

Singapore

Sad day in Singapore after the lost of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s Founding Father, Dies at 91.

Dr. Elizabeth Dorn Lublin and the History of Japan

Professor Elizabeth Dorn Lublin is a history professor at Wayne State University. She does research on Japan and the history and culture within Japan. Lublin says she became interested in Japan after spending the summer before her senior year in high school there. She loved the experience and decided to go back to Japan to learn more about its culture and history. Lublin has lived in Japan for a combined total of seven years and she considers Japan her second home.

In 2010, Lublin wrote her first book titled Reforming Japan: The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in the Meiji Period. Lublin says that reforming Japan was her doctorial dissertation in revised form. The book is about The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the organizational development of the group during the Meiji Period. The first half of the book focuses on the establishment of this women’s group and the growth and expansion of the group. The second half of the book she says is more topical and she looks at anti-prostitution activism, anti-smoking activism, and the ways in which the group used nationalism, socialism, and the imperial family to try and advance their own reforms.

Currently, Lublin is working on her second book, which will follow Japan’s tobacco industry. In the book Lublin says she will focus on how the tobacco industry influenced social reform and how tobacco was viewed socially. The book will discuss people who were against tobacco and how tobacco played a part in Japan’s economy. In the book, Lublin says she will also focus on advertisement and the way that tobacco was advertised in Japan. She will focus on the images that were used on tobacco products and how advertisement influenced the distribution of tobacco in Japan. Lublin says that she is very excited about the research she has been finding out about advertisement in Japan because she says it is something new and something she has not dealt with before in the past.

To find out more about Elizabeth Dorn Lublin or her research on Japan, click here.

Here is a short review about the book Reforming Japan: The Women’s Christian Temperance Union in the Meiji Period.

Celebrating the Chinese New Year at the Chinese New Year Gala

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On February 23, 2015, Wayne State University held its first ever Chinese New Year Gala. The gala brought hundreds of people from different backgrounds together to celebrate an important holiday in Chinese culture. Wayne State University’s Chinese Student and Scholar Association and the Confucius Institute at WSU put the event together. It took three months to put the gala together. The gala was free for all those who attended, and a Chinese dinner was served. The gala lasted for four hours, with performances and games to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The gala was fun and had pleasurable entertainment. I loved that the gala included the Lebanon dancing and the Brazilian music because it showed that anyone can celebrate the Lunar New Year and not just Chinese people. I really enjoyed myself at the gala and feel that it provided me with additional insight into Asian culture. It was visually beautiful and I truly enjoyed the experience.

 

LA Times Critique

LA Times Critique

As an assignment for my class I have to critique the LA Times website and give my opinions of it. This will not be difficult seeing as I think the LA Times website is completely awful. You may ask why I feel this way, or why I feel so strongly about how bad it is and I am going to outline everything one by one.

 

Firstly the website does not look appealing at all. The color scheme that LA Times uses is very ugly and does not catch the viewer’s attention. The website uses a white background and uses a lot of black, off red, and light and dark blue. (Maybe the LA Times wanted to go for a more patriotic look, but if that is what they were trying to do maybe they should think of something else because it does not work that well together. After all it is sunny California where is the orange or yellow?) Moving on from the color scheme is the layout and design which is equally awful to the color scheme. Someone from the LA Times decided that it would be so smart to put the menu bar on the left side of the page which at the time may have sounded like a great idea, and at first when you see it you think it’s cool and looks good, but no it’s awful.

While scrolling through the different tabs, other tabs keep popping out at you and they are a light blue color which is very distracting and so annoying. While reading one thing if you accidently move your mouse it moves on to something else! This is very frustrating and makes you want to throw your computer which I contemplated multiple times while on LA Times website.

One of the biggest mistakes that LA Times has made is not having an end to their homepage. This may not make any sense so I will explain it. When you scroll down on LA Times homepage you will be scrolling down forever! You will never make it to the bottom and after a while you will stop trying. This literally is a homepage that goes on forever. I tried to make it to the bottom 15 times and after that I gave up because I could not take it anymore.

With the social media icons apparently there main one is Facebook because that’s the only one you can see when first going to their homepage. However, if you are lucky enough and you try to scroll to the end five times, you will see their social media icons. They have Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, Google +, linked in, stumble upon, and Reddit. They also allow you to share things through email which I guess is a plus to this awful website.

Once you move from the homepage and go to one of the additional tab pages you will start getting unwanted LA Times ads such as do not miss this… or sign up for this.., which again is very annoying and very unwanted.

Okay so I talked a lot about how awful the homepage and additional tabs was so now I will move on to the page of the article I chose. If you were expecting for me to say that the story page is way better than the homepage then you were being very optimistic and I applaud you for it, and you’re right it is better. In light of Valentine’s Day I chose an article that focuses on love and the way that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in other countries. Since my blog focuses on Asian culture and learning more about Asia, I chose an article about Valentine’s Day in India.

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-india-valentines-20150213-story.html 

When you first go to the article I love how big the picture is. I like how all you can see before scrolling down is the title and the picture, I think this is very clever and it catches the eye of the reader. The article itself was very well written and I like how they take the most important, or best quote from the article and puts it off to the side where you can share it on twitter or Facebook.

 

Another thing that I love, which is about the only think that I actually love about the LA Times website, is how they do their comments and related articles pages. When you click on the comments or related articles links they slide over ever so smoothly and display the pages while still being on the article page, but at the same time not being on the article page. It’s very hard to explain, but they do a great job of this and it is different from any web page I’ve ever seen.

The only thing I don’t like about the comments page is that you do have to register to leave a comment.

Another good thing about the social media icons that they put on the article page is that they have them at both the top and the bottom of the article which is very convenient.

Critique of the article itself

The article itself was very well written and very interesting. I feel that the article was clear and it had a very good style to it. I think that the article could appeal to anyone and that it is dedicated to any kind of audience. I think that since the article talked about how if anyone posted anything about love or anything they would be found and held responsible, that this article shows a negative side to social media. This shows how you have to be careful of what you post because your post could have negative side effects, but I don’t think that social media had any influence on how the story was told. I think that this article gives the reader an in-depth view of some of the religions and cultures of Asia that we do not have in America and that it makes people aware of the world around us. I think through this article people will learn a little more about Asian culture and will learn how to embrace and respect the cultures of others around us.

Back to page critiques

Now unfortunately I have to criticize the article page. Once again there isn’t an end! Even the article page goes on forever and ever! This is extremely annoying to me and it again makes me want to throw my computer. Also the home tab bar is still there and once again things pop out and annoy you. It also doesn’t work that well when you try to scroll down and maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m the one with the problem, but it really does bother me and I wish they would have just put it along the top. A plus though is that it is always there if you need it, it doesn’t move around. Overall the LA Times website is awful and I hope I never have to go here again, unless I can go directly to the article page and avoid the homepage at all costs. Thank you.