Increasing number of suicides, especially in teenagers is a heavy cause of concern these days. The most contributing cause of suicides has been found out to be untreated depression and cyber bullying. So, in order to reach out to the victims of this menace, social networking site facebook has come up with a great application of suicide prevention.
Facebook has collaborated with mental health organizations to offer suicide prevention tools to the world. The feature was earlier available in the US and the UK to a select group of users, but will now enable anyone to report any content even minutely relevant to such problems, to Facebook. So, if you've ever felt the need of helping someone you know to cope up with suicidal feelings or depression, facebook here has come up with a platform to provide you access to help the needy.
It provides support in all languages to reach out a large number of people. Once, you provide a message or status to facebook, the concerned authority views it, inspects it, they'll provide options like talking to a trusted friend, call a helpline, get tips and support. Also, if you feel like reaching directly to your friend, Facebook will provide that platform and suggestions on those wordings.
Since everything has two opposite sides, this tool can also be used negatively by some pranksters to unnecessarily abuse or drag people pranking them under this 'suicide' alarm, hence, Facebook, has a team that reviews incoming reports and takes under prime concern extremely serious cases, including potential self-injury.
Although, Facebook does suggest calling 911 in case of any such emergency, or referring to any law enforcement for immediate help, but for those who are worried about a loved one having such tendencies and feel helpless, Facebook here serves a great tool to show their concern to the person in need and prevent them from commiting any harm.
The reach of social media has undoubtedly proved to be a great help and with tools like this, it is adding to advantages of having technology.
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