Tik Tokers Using Phrases Such As “Unalive” To Get Around Flagged ...

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Many social media apps work to keep their platforms as safe as possible. Part of that is flagging or even deleting posts that refer to topics such as death, dying or suicide.

But many are finding a way around those filters, and we learned what parents can look out for.

“Whereas social media is supposed to be social, it’s the complete opposite. Kids do not socialize like they used to.”

Tanya Mcgee with Imperial Calcasieu Human Services says sometimes difficult topics like suicide are being glorified on social media.

“If an adolescent completes a suicide, then they are glorified after their death right, so there’s memorials set up, they’re seen, their pictures are up everywhere, they have flowers. So some kids that are kind of thinking about- is this something I wanna do? Oh, look what happened after they died, people loved them more after they passed away.”

She says some teens shield themselves behind a keyboard or camera, some finding it easier to address their feelings on an app than in real life.

Often, using vague phrasing or coded speech.

“In fact, we’ve seen on a lot of social media, for example, Tik Tok, if the word suicide is put into any Tik Tok or Snapchat, it is immediately flagged. So now the new term on social media is ‘unalive yourself’ instead of the word suicide.”

The term ‘unalive’ and similar phrases have thousands of videos and views on Tik Tok, the content ranging from teens actually saying they want to unalive themselves to helpful outlets for those struggling to get help.

McGee is now urging parents to keep an eye out for these terms.

“There are things that as a parent, you might not see, you might not be able to communicate that with your kid, but we very much encourage you to be involved and check out your kid’s social media, because you know if you start looking at those things, and you can look for those trends, like unalive yourself, and see what kind of things are popping up on your kid’s social media accounts. That’s gonna be a way for parents can recognize there might be something wrong with your kiddo.”

McGee says ImCal does suicide prevention work, to ensure kids and teens in the area are aware of the services available to them.

This initiative is actually called #DontUnaliveYourself.

As a reminder, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 800-273-8255.

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