11/07/2023

Tech and Games Can Help Curb Youth Suicide

In the face of lackluster mental health support, they can help meet kids where they are

One of my most traumatizing moments was when my best friend, Terry, got gunned down outside my projects. As a nine-year-old in Chicago, I remember always speaking to him about whether he thought we would ever make it out of The Hood.

"Of course, we will, bro!" he’d always tell me. And yet, he never made it to 10. One day he was here smiling, the next, I couldn't look at my own face in the mirror without crying. Looking back, all I can think of is how much pain I must have been in in order to want to take my own young life.

A troubling statistic from 2018 notes that Black children between the ages of 5 and 12 are more than twice as likely to die by suicide than their white counterparts. I wanted to learn more about youth suicide and what technology and games may be able to do to help us curb it.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.