Why Kids Don’t Lie To Google By

 Why Kids Don’t Lie To Google
By GoGuardian

These are all major topics of concern for today’s teenagers, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among them. On average, 1 in 5 teenagers has contemplated suicide. And for the first time, suicide rates for U.S. middle school students have surpassed the rate of death by car crashes.

Children and teens may turn to a community online to put words to their struggles. When they do, they may use slang phrases on forums like Reddit, Quora, or Google - even accessing suicide instructions or penning suicide letters on school-owned devices - without ever overtly using these terms. Which is why it’s important to meet kids where they are, and understand that they may be more likely to trust the voices at the other end of the search engine than at the other end of the table.

This is of particular concern for schools, tasked increasingly by state governments with screening for and delivering mental health services and why many education technology companies have become more proactive in supporting the mental health efforts that increasingly fall to schools. Student safety once meant ensuring physically safe campuses - but that scope has become more complex and intertwined with digital citizenship issues.

Destigmatizing mental health while extending an early hand is where schools can have a substantial impact on students who may be looking for help, without knowing how to.