Sending a deathly message
Everyone texts. It’s practically a requirement to stay alive in today’s day and age, but how much thought do we put into each message? Well, that’s debatable.
If a friend were to send you something funny or remotely humorous, you’d most likely reply with the everlasting “LOL.” Yet living in an age filled with abbreviations, what happens if someone sends something annoying to get under your skin? We have reached a point where even kids send a new abbreviation of “KYS,” or “kill yourself.”
Obviously it isn’t to be taken literally, yet this sparks a whole new idea behind the basics of text messaging; when is someone being serious, when is someone joking, when is it ever appropriate to tell a friend to KYS?
The simple answer: it never is. However, many do not recognize the potential harm of this simple text. Receiving a ‘KYS’ may just blow over someone who doesn’t think twice about it, but what happens to someone who may take it differently, more serious?
The difference between an abbreviation and a phrase has become uncanny. They mean the same thing but one hurts while the other is just a few letters thrown together.
Everyone has limits and, something as simple as a text message can push someone over the edge.
This summer, a suicide murder case brought out a horrific side of humanity. As 18-year-old Conrad Roy was suffering mental health issues, he reached out to his ex-girlfriend Michelle Carter for advice contemplating suicide. In this crucial state, Carter replied with a message that twisted their lives forever “If you’re going to do it, just do it already.” Roy committed suicide following that message resulting in Carter’s sentence for 15 months for involuntary manslaughter. This even thought to light the seriousness of comments about suicide, even when they are meant lightheartedly.
Texting has evolved a new language, yet with the simplicity of this language full of abbreviations, one’s emotions can be glanced over, while one can be crying for help and begging for advice Don’t blow it off as just another text message. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes and think about what you would want to hear if you were seeking the help.