Dark humour has long been an effective coping mechanism, but the rise of one such phenomenon has been a controversial one. Since nihilistic digital natives introduced suicide memes to the public sphere, some people haven’t known how to respond.  

 

The twisted images evoked outrage and concern, but as internet meme culture changed, some started to consider that depression memes could serve as a form of therapy.  

 

When millennials opened up social media to an honest conversation, they turned sadness into shared experience. Those aged between 16 and 24 were found to have the highest levels of suicidal thoughts and more young people are diagnosed with depression than any other age group. These memes not only embody youth humour, but maximise on the painfully relatable. For many, such upfront truth-telling isn’t allowed irl*, but the internet provides a socially acceptable outlet.   

 

It’s difficult to pinpoint the true origins of the suicide meme. Google Trends reported its first notable spike in searches in May 2007 and interest particularly grew in September 2012 when the “Kill Me Meme” first appeared. 

 

Browsers’ growing fascination can be linked to certain events; there was a significant rise in searches in October 2012 after 15-year-old Amanda Todd took her life. Another peak time of interest was in January 2018 after infamous YouTuber Logan Paul videoed the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan.  

 

Their popularity can also be connected to fiction; searches for suicide-related terms increased by 19 per cent after 13 Reasons Why aired. Suicide and pop-culture have long been intertwined, so it wasn’t a huge leap to bring the topic onto our social feeds. David Lester is a psychologist at Stockton University who has analysed the link between suicide and imitation. He found that after a newsworthy celebrity died by suicide, there is a rise in copycat deaths. It’s no coincidence that after Marilyn Monroe took her life in 1962, there was a significant rise in suicides (by almost 200) the following month in America.  

 

David believes that people didn’t create the memes with the intention of influencing others. He says: “The first person who saw that someone in Hong Kong used burning charcoal indoors to die and posted it did not know that this method would become popular.”  

 

Similarly, David says users don’t tend to post memes as a cry for help – “some suicidal people posting on Facebook have been ‘saved’ from dying” but often not through sharing vague images.” 

 

Andy Riley is the creator of The Book of Bunny Suicides and is considered to be something of a pioneer in the black comedy world. In 2003, Andy began creating the cartoons, depicting adorable bunnies killing themselves in an ingenious range of ways, with the intention of making people laugh.  

 

Comedian Andy says: “My work, just like suicide memes, is observational comedy. When everyone started using the phrase ‘fuck my life’, we weren’t actually talking about giving up, but creating a sort of comedic commentary about the annoying things in life.” 

 

He believes that dark humour, including suicide memes, has positively contributed to mental health awareness as it decreases the stigma.  

 

“Things have changed in recent years. In the past, you would often see interviews with celebrities where they would only talk about the ‘bad periods’ after they’d been through the worst of it. Now, I notice people are able to talk more about their experiences while they’re still going through them.” 

 

But why do people feel they can open up online? The phenomenon is called the online disinhibition effect. When we browse the internet the social barriers that restrain us from conducting certain behaviour in person decrease because of the anonymity the internet provides. It works in two ways; toxic disinhibition lets users troll or catfish victims, while benign disinhibition makes people feel brave enough to open up and sometimes even perform acts of kindness.  

 

As online disinhibition takes effect, users see social media as a space for group therapy, sharing their dark thoughts without judgement.  

 

Of course, much of the population remain horrified at the idea, and the form of catharsis appears to be exclusive to millennial's and Gen Z. Of a survey of Facebook users, only 18 to 34-year-olds admitted to sharing suicide memes online. This demographic found them the most amusing with over half saying they thought they were funny. Of those that are 34 or older, only one in ten responded positively to the images, while six in ten people considered them to be disturbing or concerning.  

 

Steph Dillon created the page “Mental Illness – Less Stigma, More Support” on Facebook. She was “outraged” after seeing the memes online and says it was “upsetting to see because it’s almost like suicide is being turned into a joke”.  

 

She says: “Memes like this make people feel significantly worse about the situation they’re dealing with. I would be concerned that [the creators of memes] either think of mental health and suicide as a joke, or that they are possibly contemplating suicide themselves and are using it as a subtle cry for help.”  

 

Digital natives are becoming increasingly desensitised to absurdist humour. Our social feeds are inundated with dark messages, we tell each other to kill ourselves, lol, and move on. Some feel that this could be drowning out the genuine cries for help, so it’s important to distinguish the difference between joking and knowing when a subject is becoming a joke.  

 

It’s worth noting that many of the forums that play host to existentialist humour do provide numbers for help centres. “2meirl4meirl” is at the centre of the phenomenon on Reddit, and its pinned post - titled quite uninspiringly “don’t kill yourself” - begins with a number of hotlines. A popular page on Tumblr titled “Suicide Memes” was started after the creator “found suicide memes so relatable and hilarious”, but the site isn’t entirely superficial as they openly discuss their experience with depression and suicidal thoughts and respond to users who ask for help.  

 

These forums evidently provide a sense of community and let people know they’re not alone. Avid consumers of absurdist humour all tend to justify their interest in similar ways; many feel it’s a coping mechanism for dealing with depression.  

 

One survey respondent said: “Taking life as one big joke might seem terribly counter-intuitive at first glance but take a step outside the box. Every time I see a suicide meme I think ‘it’s ridiculous how easily I could end my life’, but this thought process makes me think more about the reasons why I’m still here and is a comforting reminder of the good parts of life.” 

 

Response to bunny suicides shows a similar pattern, as people have often told Andy that joking about suicide has helped them through bad periods because it’s one of the few things they can laugh at.   

 

“Black comedy has always had its critics. But with suicide memes, it’s different,” he says. “It’s odd that people get het up over jokes about dark subjects when the same people will watch hours of fine entertainment with some very disturbing content.” 

 

“You can justify the lamest pieces of violence and swearing in entertainment because it’s seen as dramatic but put it in a comedy and its seen as gratuitous. This is about confronting your fears in a controlled environment, that environment being the joke.” 

 

Existentialist Dadaism is a direct response to the growing disillusionment that plagues millennials.  

 

Young people have become desensitised to an environment that is deafening. Traditional sources of meaning such as religion and family are no longer valued, we have only ever known a world where the threat of terrorism is real, economic inequality has squandered our hopes of buying our own homes, having a decent pension or even finding secure employment, and we find ourselves living in a political climate that can euphemistically be described as tumultuous.  

 

Perhaps when everything around us becomes a joke, the only appropriate way to respond is with humour.  

 

But really, it all comes down to one painfully true mantra coined by Marjorie Pay Hinckley: “The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it.” 

 

In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or visit https://www.samaritans.org/.