Self harm on Youtube: Why censorship might be self-harming.

Today, BBC reported that self-harm by young people in England had risen 50% (link) . On this page they say, 'Fact 5: Most young people who self-harm say they do it to cope with their emotions, not as a plea for help or a failed suicide attempt.' When they interviewed one self-harmer she said that seeing disturbing self-harm videos caused her emotional distressed which she then expressed as ... more self-harm.

There are now people pointing their finger at Youtube. Apparently, it's Youtube's fault for not censoring.

Right. Point number 1. Young people feel horrible. Self-harmers are saying that the best coping mechanism they know to deal with these feelings is to self-harm. If self-harm is the best, then what is second best? If we attempt to remove self-harming as an option for expression without providing a better option, we are likely to find out.

Point number 2: Uncensored Youtube shows anyone who wants to look what is really out there. Censoring it will drive the symptoms underground so we don't have to look at it anymore. What is the chance of seeing the cause when we can't even see the symptom?

Point number 3: If uncensored Youtube videos are disturbing, there will be a cause in society that is creating this. If it was simply human free will, the rate of self-harm would chaotically fluctuate with no pattern as people individually make decisions. But the report starts with 'THE RATE'. That means there is a force stabilising the number of self-harmers. That force is growing. Not addressing it and driving the symptom of it underground will be disastrous.

In other words: what are people thinking!?!

The answer is they are not thinking in terms of human self-organisation. Trying to deal with it in a linear way will not work.

In the specific matter of self-harm, the clue is in the radio interview with a self-harmer. She claimed that the pain of seeing others self-harm triggered the ONLY way she new to deal with it. She then said that these videos should be removed and replaced by supportive video.

Now, what I'm about to say is not a criticism of her, but a criticism of society.

Why did it not occur to her that if she didn't watch self-harm videos and only watched supportive videos, then everything would be okay? (which I seriously doubt, but just following her logic) The point is, at no point did she seem to realise she had any power to make a choice. She simply pointed her finger at Youtube and blamed them for not censoring.

This abdication of personal responsibility that society incubates is becoming a serious problem.

Censoring is not the answer. I would suggest the answer would lies in reconnecting people in community. The only way to do this is to tackle the shape of human self-organisation.