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Online Community Research Paper

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Online communities on Tumblr and elsewhere are leading people into dark places that weren’t there before. People are self-identifying with depression. They are confusing their normal and commonplace emotions and feelings of sadness with this idea that they cannot come out of this dark place in which they are in. Rather than seeking help from loved ones or medical professionals, they go to these online communities to be understood, but to be understood, you must be accepted. This is leading young people, especially females, to cut wrists and perform other instances of self-harm, and take pictures to document their feelings. To further their acceptance, they put quotes like “So it’s okay for you to hurt me, but I can’t hurt myself?” and “I want …show more content…

“People use the word ‘depression’ if they can’t find their keys, or if they've had a fight with their mother or father, or if they’ve had an argument with their boyfriend or girlfriend, if they didn’t make the school team or didn’t do well on an exam,” says adolescent psychiatry expert Dr. Stan Kutcher. “When we use the word ‘depression’ for every negative emotional state, the word loses its meaning.” If people are overusing the term “depression” to describe normal, everyday sadness, it takes away from those who actually suffer from this disease. As a person who has both a grandmother, a cousin, and multiple friends who suffer from depression, I feel as though this term is offensive. The people in my life take regularly prescribed medications from their doctors or see therapists on a weekly basis to help them deal with their issues that they cannot normally deal with on their own as most people can. When they are suffering from depression, they cannot bring themselves out of their sadness and feel better. People who use the term depression to feel connected and like they belong in Tumblr’s world of dark poetry and romantic art do not truly understand what it is like to feel depressed, and although they may need help, social media is not the way to do

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