'Live chat suicide frantic bid to show anguish'

Kolkata: Taking one’s life during a video chat is a desperate attempt to convey helplessness, anguish and anger and it can happen more frequently as social media casts its net wider, say experts. Live chat suicide seems to replace the suicide note for it allows one to share one’s final despair with someone, they say, pointing out it is a dangerous trend, especially for the impressionable and depression-prone.

A 21-year-old college student hanged himself at Duttapukur during a live chat with his girlfriend on Monday. The youngster was reportedly depressed after his father remarried following his mother’s death.

“Killing oneself while talking to another is a perverse way of sharing the last anguish. It probably offers the victim a kind of solace that someone knew about his or her misery and was a witness to the final moments. The suicidal always seek help desperately. This is another way of doing it, though extremely gruesome and terrifying,” said psychiatrist J Ram. He added some might find it easier to kill oneself during a live chat for it gave out the impression of being in someone’s company. “Suicide is an extremely private act and the culmination of a deep sense of isolation and dejection. A live chat is a final way of reaching out for help,” Ram said.

Suicides on live video might also be committed to convey anger, especially after a failed relationship, said psychiatrist Siladitya Ray. “ Live chat suicides may indeed be the new suicide note even as virtual communication replaces real connect. Youngsters today are more comfortable using gadgets and the social media to communicate. Committing suicide on video is an extension of that mindset,” said Ray. It was also a fallout of an attention-seeking behaviour, encouraged by the social media, felt Ray. “There can’t be a bigger revenge than killing oneself live on video while chatting with someone who has dumped you. This is a perverse way of teaching a lesson. Unfortunately, the social media culture encourages it,” he added.

In Japan, there have been instances of group suicides on video, pointed out Ram. “This is way of letting the world know about your pain. It probably lessens the pain of isolation,” he said.