Many newspapers and media outlets are picking up the new Pediatrics study that looked for “self injury” or “self harm” videos on YouTube and were surprised that they actually found them. I’m not sure “study” is the correct word for what the researchers did here, since millions of people each day perform similar “research” (by typing these keywords into YouTube).
From a completely descriptive study — e.g., research that is simply observing what the researchers find online — the researchers nonetheless draw the following conclusion: “The nature of nonsuicidal self-injury videos on YouTube may foster normalization of nonsuicidal self-injury and may reinforce the behavior through regular viewing of nonsuicidal self-injury — themed videos.” This isn’t a conclusion they can draw from their data, of course.
Alternative explanations abound. Could it be that a teen’s peer group has already been engaging in such behavior for years? Or that a person is unlikely to try something just because they see it on TV? After all, how many of us have gone out and killed someone after seeing hundreds (if not thousands) of murders regularly depicted on American television? Does this somehow “normalize” murder? Isn’t is equally as likely that teenagers are sharing mutual experiences, because for some minority of teens, these kinds of behaviors are completely normal already?
Furthermore, the researchers offer this helpful advice, “Professionals working with youth and young adults who enact nonsuicidal self-injury need to be aware of the scope and nature of nonsuicidal self-injury on YouTube.”
YouTube videos are the veritable tip of the iceberg when it comes to these kinds of things. You want self-injury resources? There are online communities with tens of thousands of members who post and share graphic images of their cutting behavior every day. There are video sites far less mainstream than YouTube where you can watch as graphic self-harm videos as you can stomach.
This is not a new phenomenon, either. These sites — and people turning to the Internet to share behaviors that others view as abnormal or somehow unreasonable — have been around for over a decade. Self-injury is not new. Using the Internet to share and gain support for these kinds of behaviors isn’t particularly new either. I guess what’s new here is that some researchers thought it would be nice to study once small aspect of the Internet and report on those observations. I think that’s great, but let’s put it into some context…
Representative Sample of Self-Harm Videos?
We all have heard of the “long tail” in search. This is the phenomenon where a great deal of a website’s traffic comes not from the most commonly viewed pages or resources, but from thousands of smaller pages viewed only a few times each. The same is true with YouTube. There are tens of millions of videos on YouTube alone; other video sharing sites have millions upon millions more. So while it’s fine to look only at the top 50 or 100 videos (as these researchers did), one’s findings from such an arbitrary selection may not actually be representative of the entire population of self-harm videos.
Look at it another way. Imagine an alien with no understanding of human culture comes down to Earth and spends one week viewing only the top 50 videos on YouTube. Would they have any sense or perspective of the diversity of human culture?? Or would it be a completely, pop-culture skewed sense?
Yes, teens self-harm. Yes, such videos may indeed be triggering to someone searching for them. But then again, what would a person expect if they were to search on the terms “self harm” or “self injury?” Would we expect any normal person to not find potentially triggering material with such search terms??!
Of course not. To complain, as the researchers did in this study, that it is “problematic” that just under half of the videos did not contain a warning about the material seems nonsensical. How else would most people come across the videos in the first place?
I love snapshots of our culture like this one. But it’s just that — a snapshot of two keyword searches on one video site, at one point in time. It offers us insight into what some teens and young adults are doing when it comes to self-injury (more than anything else), and the creativity of using video to express one’s own pain and emotional hurt. I see such self-expressions as positive things, overall, just as I see online communities that allow people to share their pain with one another.
Ultimately, it brings a hidden, secretive (and often stigmatized and misunderstood) behavior out into the light. And by doing so, perhaps makes it easier in the future for others to more directly share with people who may be in a position to help them.
Read the USA Today article on the study: Teens share self-injury, ‘cutting’ videos on YouTube
Reference:
Lewis, S.P., Heath, N.L., St. Denis, J.M. & Noble, R. (2011). The Scope of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury on YouTube (Free PDF). Pediatrics. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2010-2317
10 comments
Great article! This is nothing new and we don’t do it to shock anyone or get people to try it. It’s already normal to us. Sharing it in communities means we don’t have to deal with dumb comments from those who don’t understand it – like those researchers.
As much as I agree with your frustration concerning the research methods; and yes, I too feel it was sloppy work, I do have to disagree that this may be a valid issue. I think of the pro-ana sites for one. Although the sites for pro-ana were very direct in supporting the eating disorder and the self-injury websites, videos, etc have the guise of being supportive, they seem to be more of a breeding ground for competition.
Having been a former member(5 years ago), of an established ‘support’ group, I can personally attest to this. Cutting wasn’t talked about when I was doing it, professionals still held the idea it was a suicide attempt. In ten years the community size was overwhelming. Was it because people then felt more comfortable talking about it that it became more prevalent, or was it because people saw it was an option that was acceptable and that is why the community size tripled? I don’t have the answer I think it may have been more of the former. I believe there are some good people on these websites, but I think it takes more than what is available and I think they can also really cause more harm, provide more ideas to those who aren’t in so deep, and definitely there should be better, cleaner research done on this subject matter.
CM
24% of teens admit to self-injury? Sounds like it’s already pretty “normal.” Besides if you go on YouTube looking for Self-injury videos, what do you think your going to get?
Thank you! I mean parents blame youtube and all but if the kid goes on there looking for self harming videos that is exactly what he/she is going to get. It’s obvious to me that some people need to pay more attention to their children we cut for a reason people…..everyone wants to talk about us but everyone is too scared to reach out and help us.
As the mother of a teen that has self-injury issues, it horrifies me that she can view such videos. While there may be positive value in forums and support groups regarding this topic, I see nothing but sensationalism and attention-seeking in the posting of self-injury videos.
As a teen who is struggling with an addiction to self injury, I believe I should voice my opinion in this matter. Although there are many hundreds of self harm videos on youtube, if the researchers had watched them they would know that the vast majority are from people sharing their story in an attempt to scare others out of the idea of self injury. Yes, many of the videos are graphic, but I don’t remember a single video that was in favor of self harm.
as a self- harmer I have never looked at you-tube videos- if people are going to self-harm it will happen- with or without you-tube. I had neck surgery last year- I was able to watch the surgery on you-tube before it happens ( medical background images like that don’t bother me)but just because it is searched for doesn’t mean it will cause people to begin something! When I was in the hospital my cutting was ‘shameful’ and had to be hidden from others- others did it wheather they saw my arms or not. Research needs to look more into REASONS not just ‘clicks’ on a site
Greg, it may not be the intent,but such videos and even “support” forums for this issue often seem like a “how-to” instruction. It may give a person idea and people in bad emotional places do not think rationally.
It’s tricky to know whether posting self-harm videos is self-expression or encouragement. But I suspect that whilst the motive may be the former, the effect is the latter. I have a complex mental illness history, and have self-harmed a few times. The first time I was feeling awful, and happened to open a magazine at an article talking about the dangers of self-harm. I walked straight into the kitchen and picked up a knife. My point is that our actions don’t always have the intended effect and that is worth considering when looking at self-harm video posting.
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