Digital self harm is on the rise among adolescents in the United States.
Research published in the Journal of School violence found that digital self-harm among teenagers has increased by 88% since 2016.
“We formally define digital self-harm as the “anonymous online posting, sending, or otherwise sharing of hurtful content about oneself.” Digital self-harm occurs when an individual creates an anonymous online account on a major platform – typically one that their peers are using as well – so those peers can see the posts - and uses that anonymous account to publicly send hateful, threatening, or humiliating messages or threats to one’s self,” Sameer Hinduja, PhD, co-author of the study, a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice within FAU’s College of Social Work and Criminal Justice, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University told Theravive.
“Based on our data collection of youth across the US from 2016, the percentage of youth who have ever engaged in DSH in their lifetime was around 6%. In 2019 when we studied it, it was 8.6%. In our most recent paper, it was 12%.”
To undertake their study, the researchers examined three national surveys that took place in 2016, 2019 and 2021. They surveys involved teenagers in the United States between the ages of 13 to 17.
They examined two measures: whether teens had anonymously posted anything mean about themselves online during their lifetime and if they had cyberbullied themselves anonymously in their lifetime.
They found that rates of digital self harm have been steadily increasing since 2016. In 2021, 11.9% of survey respondents said they anonymously posted mean content about themselves whilst 9.3% said they cyberbullied themselves. This was more likely if the respondent was female or non-heterosexual.
Teenagers who experienced cyberbullying were five to seven times more likely to have digitally self harmed themselves compared to those who hadn’t been cyberbullied.
Hinduja says there could be a number of reasons why teens are digitally self harming.
“Most comments from respondents center around certain themes: self-hate (e.g. “That time was a time full of hate for myself.”), attention seeking (e.g. “So people could see that people bully me too and that I could be mean to other people because ‘people’ were mean to me.”), depressive symptoms (e.g. “I did it mainly out of depression and a time that I was feeling suicidal.”), and to be funny (e.g. “I do not like hurting others, but it’s easy to make fun of myself. I was bored and did it to maybe make others laugh as a joke.”). Others were simply doing to see if anyone would react (e.g. “A couple times to see how people I know would react so I would know if they were talking about me behind my back.”),” he said.
“We know that youth are increasingly dealing with mental health struggles, particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and even now that we are past it. We also know that unless they are intentionally shepherded by caring adults who are actively involved in their lives, they will sometimes choose to deal with stressors and pain in dysfunctional ways. Digital self-harm may be a cry for help. It may be a call for attention. It may be a twisted method to see who will step up and defend them, who their true friends are – as well as who is going to gang up on them, or pile upon the hateful comments. It may be an attempt to release painful emotions that they are not able to negotiate or reconcile, in the same way that traditional self-harm (like cutting or burning oneself) might facilitate.”
Identifying teens who engage in digital self harm is important, as the researchers have identified an associated between digital self harm and suicide risk.
“It's dangerous because our research has identified a link with suicide risk. We've previously identified that those who engaged in digital self-harm were between five and seven times more likely to have considered suicide and between nine and 15 times more likely to have attempted to end their life. We can’t say that one causes the other, but we do know they are connected in some way. This is important because if we know a child is participating in digital self-harm behaviors, it is more likely they have suicidal thoughts,” Hinduja said.
Elizabeth Pratt is a medical journalist and producer. Her work has appeared on Healthline, The Huffington Post, Fox News, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, The Sydney Morning Herald, News.com.au, Escape, The Cusp and Skyscanner. You can read more of her articles here. Or learn more about Elizabeth and contact her via her LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.
