STOP ROMANTICIZING DEPRESSION 

We need to destigmatize, not romanticize.

Tw "Suicidal people are angels just trying to get home" DON'T ENCOURAGE IT. SAYING THAT THEY'RE ANGELS "TRYING TO GET HOME" JUST SAYS IT'S OKAY TO DO IT. THAT'S THE OPPOSITE OF HELPING. That's my two cents on the issue.

The one about angels wanting to go home is extremely toxic, I saw it when i was 12 and just assumed that it was ok to want to die

Tumblr is a place that is so dangerous to look at for a lot of reasons...

Okay that "suicidal people are just angels who want to go home" thing made me really angry. That is not an okay thing to say!

Same with anorexia... Tumblr has a lot of bad advice on it if you search in all the wrong places.

*trigger warning* what pisses me off the most are those reposts on Snapchat that’s a picture of someone’s arm fully cut and just COVERED in blood with the caption something along the line of “what would you do if you saw this on my arm. I bet nobody would care :(“ it makes me sick that I’ve seen that more than twice.

Tumblr: "if you self-harm you're awesome!!!!1!!!" me: no you are really not tbh stop endorsing it

Reading these posts as an adult or mature teen is so different than reading them as a preteen/young teen. Now, I can see how ridiculous they are and hearing you read them out loud makes me wonder how I used to post/believe these quotes. There is no way to express how much influence social media posts like this have on young people, especially alone on their phones or computers with no one to tell them otherwise. The worst is when older, more mature people post these for younger kids to see...

I think the worst part about Tumblr romantizacing mental illness are those people who write an introduction to their page saying "PTSD, depression, anxiety, eating disorder" like if all those things were SOOOO cool and the more you had, they cooler you are. Editing more into de video: I actually met my partner through Tumblr and we have been together for 4 years! not everything was bad in that site 😂

There is this girl in my class who jokes about suicide because she is "edgy"and thats what "edgy suicidle people do": i told her that was not right and she told me it helpls her i mean if it helps her i get it but saying that suicide is some edgy trend is disgusting

When I was 13, these kinds of posts and videos brought me into terrible anxiety and caused my self harm, I then found people who would spread positive messages and talk about how to help mental illness, we need more of those kinds of posts and accounts

I was a depressed teenager (and still am) and I can say that those edits, or shows like American Horror Story (first season with Violet and her self harm) made me try self harm... I felt like I was part of this beautiful, hurt and depressed community... it's over now, thank god, but it IS dangerous... I went deeper into my depression and didn't even want to change that, be careful guys, sometimes you don't even realise it but it gets to you!

"Anti-treatment"? Jesus christ if it wasn't for therapy and meds idk where I'd be. I actually have a tumblr and once stumbled upon a picture of someone having the word "sad" cut into their wrist, and honestly it pisses me off when things like this-- which aren't even the poster's pictures to begin with many times, it's others' pain- are put up for reblogs. There's a lot of positivity on there as well, and I wish that was able to overcome the negativity.

yeah I remember being 13 and stumbling into "ana and mia" blogs and how they sent me into a spiral because you would get that validation and support to keep going, just in the opposite direction of recovery. That was before tumblr though. When I joined tumblr at 16 it was more because of fandom stuff for the shows I liked. Still, fandoms can be really toxic places and images like these would pop up fairly frequently. I was lucky that I quickly found ways to block them and was also very selective of whom I followed. If I needed to share stuff about my disorders, I would make sure to tag it so other people could blacklist it and I would always put it under a read more. I actually found a lot of support (the proper kind) this way before I could afford therapy, so it wasn't all horrible. Now I look back and see how dangerous and disgusting those comunities were and it saddens me that they've done nothing but keep growing.

I love tumblr but it really can be soooo toxic

You know when you search "Eating" the first suggestion in the bar is Eating Disorder.

I'm 25 and I've been a (more or less) high functioning depressive since I was at least 8 (though my psychologist & psychiatrist suggest it was earlier), and I distinctly remember being about 14 or 15, completely miserable, and looking on tumblr or deviantart at artsy images like this and thinking "These people can't *really* be depressed. It's not like that??¿ There's nothing beautiful here, I just want to get out¿¿??" And I'm glad I was able to identify as a teenager that the romanticized ideals of how depression is portrayed is nothing like the day to day, oppressive and horrible reality of dealing with these illnesses. I think it's the reason that c. 2013 when my friend was trying to get me to watch AHS I was so disgusted; anything glorifying this horrible thing in my life was always such an anathema. (I can watch that show now and deal with it and look over the more romanticized sh*t cos I'm an adult in a way that I couldn't at 19 or 20). So yeah. Good take on this topic 👌🏻

I understand where you're coming from. But in my opinion, the first pictures were more about sharing your feelings with the world in an artistic manner and not really romanticizing anything. It's like songs about sadness can be a really beautiful a way to feel less alone with these negative feelings or thoughts. Even songs about suicide could somehow be considered as romanticizing suicide with that way of thinking. I was just thinking about Never Let Me Go by Florence and the Machine for example. Art can get inspired by everything and be about everything and it shouldn't be seen as bad. But I do get your point on how it would be wrongly interpreted by teens, especially on Tumblr. Maybe the platform and/or users are the problem, not the actual posts. If they go to an art gallery, there might also be some triggering paintings about pain, suicide or negative feelings which also could be seen as 'encouraging'. Still an awesome video as always, though. I'm just sharing thoughts :)

I remember myself reblogging images like this thinking this was the way I could express my feelings but it really backfired on me and I only realize now that I am older that that made things even worse. :( I wish people would stop creating these things. They’re harmful

I use Tumblr for the memes and follow people who post fun/political stuff and so I have never perceived the website as negative as it may be for some. But I'm sure that if you look for that kind of validation you'll find it on there.

Love the setup!!

I totally agree with this. Actually, when I was younger, I thought that feeling like that was ''normal'' because of tumblr images, so, it doesn't help at all to realize that we need professional help. But, it's great to know that this kind of web sites are finally dying. Btw, I think the camera quality is pretty good.

The worst thing about these quotes is that when you think your struggling with depression they make you think your not because you think depression is supposed to be this poetic beautiful thing when it’s not. (Not saying you can’t write about depression but write about it well so it shows how awful it is) OR it can make depression seem normal and not a thing to get help for

You are such a good role model I'm proud of myself for looking up to you

I was heavy into ana and mia forums and blogs when i was a teen and until i was a young adult. And just last week i randomly got an e-mail from one of those forums saying I had gotten a reply on a post. A post i wrote 11 years ago. So I wen't in to see what I had written, and it was so sad. It was a post where I was saying hi to the forum again after having failed my recovery attempt. But what was more sad was all the people welcoming me back, not saying they were sad it failed or that i should try again. But they encouraged me to stay and continue being on the forum. Took me 6 more years before I recovered and I got out of my depression with the help of therapy and medication, but I'm all good now. It takes a lot of work and bravery to face your shit and take up the battle, and I'm proud of myself for doing it, and I'm proud of all the other boys and girls who's done it, is doing it, and will do it.

I don't see those first four images as anything close to romanticizing, or promoting it. I think those go best with, as you said, expressing yourself in a social art form, and coming closest to it. All the rest though, needs to go. That's not right. Definitely agree with the quotes from the articles.

I hate myself for liking those kind of photos back then

I have depression (I've had it for about eight years) and for me, these types of posts validated how I felt. Anytime I was at a low point, I'd look at this type of stuff and listen to sad music to purposefully feel worse, because if I didn't cry I felt nothing. I've self harmed a lot, attempted suicide twice, and still haven't tried to reach out to someone and get help. I don't purposefully trigger myself anymore, or self harm, but I am trying to be better naturally and privately. Thank you for making this video.

I strongly agree with what you are saying about Tumblr, but the part of Tumblr that I prefer to be a part of are the fandoms and a really kind community that is against those kind of posts, and rather for a realistic outlook on mental illness, and how to get professional help- or sometimes just creating much more positive posts that outweigh the negative ones.

First it’s that “not everyone’s who’s depressed is super sad all the time!” And now it’s “stop making depression look happy!” We shall never find a middle ground...

girl you're following the wrong people on tumblr, i'm mentally ill but all i follow is my interests and memes and i have a great time, it's actually therapeutic. the stuff you're talking about doesn't even get any attention these days

I honestly think that if I’m feeling even slightly down and I look at any posts about depression that aren’t self help etc, I fall into a downwards spiral and start searching for quotes and stuff. It causes me to watch sad edits of things and I know it has such a negative effect on my mood. More recently I’ve been trying to cut down on my social media use when I’m starting to slip into a deeper depression because I need to avoid triggering myself.

Honestly want to know everything about the breakfast nook 😂 want to see it!

Thank you. I don't think most of these are really romanticizing them, but they're things that people post and edit and make that just... Make people's illnesses worse. I used to look at these and read them when I was depressed, which only made me worse. After I stopped looking at them, I realized how much better my depression was getting. Not to say that those were the cause of my depression, but it just... Really made me feel like shit when I read these types of things when I was going through hard times. Even now, if I'm following someone on instagram or something and they start posting these types of things, I unfollow them because honestly those types of images and things aren't making mental illnesses more known, but they're making our illnesses worse.

I’m planning on talking to my parents soon because I think I might be depressed, I was bullied for 4 years luckily it’s over now but I think it’s left a mark on me. I just want to feel happy again! This is a great video, I deleted tumblr a few months ago because of posts like this that romanticise mental illness. Some people I know say thinks like “ my girlfriend dumped me, now I have crippling depression lol” or they use it as a meme?? Why it’s rude disrespectful and just wrong! My friends going to the doctor today because she told her Mum about self harm and depression I’m so happy for her!

FEELING depressed for a certain period of time is NOT the same as having depression the MENTAL ILLNESS and suffering from it.

why was i thinking of the song freeze your brain during this whole video tho

I remember when my mental health was at its worst, I was also spending a lot of time on Tumblr and having such easy access to this sort of thing was definitely not helping. Quite the opposite actually. Like now that I’m older I realise that it actually made things way way worse for me and it’s images like those that are the reason why I won’t let myself use Instagram when my mental health gets bad seeing as a lot of it, as you said, seems to have drifted onto Instagram too.

Tumblr definitely still seems to be relevant, but is a lot less “aesthetic” than it used to be. People still talk about mental illness etc, but in a way that shuns people who don’t have it in the sense of “well, I have it worse than you so you can’t complain” and thus people seem to advertise their “uniqueness” by listing everything about them that isn’t “boring.”

This reminds me of the novel Looking for Alaska, probably the worst thing I've ever read, where (spoilers) the main girl's heavily implied suicide is shown as just another part of her ~quirky and beautiful~ character 🙄 It's been nearly a decade since I read that book and I'm still annoyed.

I think that these people are horribly dramatic. Now hear me out. I'll argue that everyone in their own respects is tragic. People are tragic, as there are some things that no matter who you are you just cannot express. I *will* not argue that I've had a hard life, not in the slightest. I tend to find myself liking life, and generally having a happy disposition around people.. Yet, Not a day really goes by where I'm staring down the stairwell, pausing and wondering if I should jump. Or maybe I'm waiting by the street and I see a car and think. "Maybe I should jump in front." I'm not depressed, I haven't been told I am, and I have no idea what most depressed people feel like. I know though, that I want to live, and I'm happy living. Yet the thoughts of death don't leave, and I don't feel the urge to go jump off the rooftop, but thought does cross my mind, every time I exit a building. I don't know, it's an odd feeling... Not.. Depressing? Just, it confuses me more often. Anyway, that was me rambling. Tragedy is, by definition, an event causing great suffering. Therefore, if everyone faces roadblocks in their lives, and *everyone* deals with the loss of their parents at some point. We are all inherently tragic beings, and every obstacle we hit a low point at feeds this. That being *said,* depression is a big deal. My own mother is depressed, and I often see her as stand-offish and devoid of emotion. I love her, and she shows through little signs that she loves me too, but... She just gets incredibly annoyed and peeved quickly, to the point I unconsciously take that to heart. She's also a little more brash with people, so sometimes it seems like she's "sick and tired of me", when that simply isn't the case. I *adore* my mom, but is her depression beautiful or cute to me? *N O* It hurts, it hurts to have her feel down all the time. I don't want to embrace her sadness like it's a piece of dazzling jewelry she bought. It's not "stylish" on her. I'd rather lift her up, so that she doesn't feel so mad at me. Or maybe I'm overthinking it. Now, I set all of that up just to say that, depression isn't cute. It burns bridges, and if not for my unconditional love for my Mama, I don't know if I could take it. Depression is a flaw. Yes, it is a mental disorder, but that still makes it a flaw. You just have to find someone that will accept that part of you. I'm not doubting their depression, but self-labeling is annoying, and if you really feel so inclined... Get your counselor or reach out. And if you say "No that's dumb!" Then I guess you either 1. Aren't depressed. 2. Really have consciously chosen to give up on life, even when the world has give you options. There are cases where you cannot reach out, but there is always an option. Since we all go through things that block us in life, we are all essentially in the same boat. So stop saying your life is the worst. Even a rich kid could be depressed because of a distanced family, on the other hand a poor person could have loving family and be happy. Or maybe you have no reason at all to be depressed. Maybe you live a good life but you wake up and feel sad all the time, or you always feel the need to die. There doesn't have to be a cause for it, but never claim your pain is greater than anyone's. Pain is pain, and we should find ways to lessen it no matter who you are.

I know this video has a very strong point and I get the point but the entire way through all I could think was "DAMN GURL, your skin looks AMAZING!!!" But also thank you for this video, I think there are people out there who really needed a wakeup call.

Whilst I agree that this kind of community (whether it be on Tumblr or Instagram or wherever) can never be a mental illness treatment, the creative expression of my feelings during my teenage years was one of the things that helped me the most (before I went to therapy). Frankly, I find it hard to draw the line between where one is just expressing themselves (which is totally valid imo) or where one is romanticizing depression. To me there is a difference of seeking support and understanding through these images or doing it for fame / to make others feel worse / to romanticize depression. These are not neccesarily the same category for me. They might look similar but there's more to it than just art. It's also the attitude behind them. Back at 16/17 when I made very dark art, I would always openly talk to people about my time in a clinic, about therapy. And about what I have discovered helps for me. That's not the same thing as isolating yourself in a community that doesn't WANT you to get better. I think it's difficult, but a topic worth discussing.

Thank you so much for making this! I’m so sick and tired thinking depression is cool and “aesthetic”. Thanks again ❤️

I totally agree with you! I've reflected on this myself, and it wasn't until being out of the tumblr environment that I realized how negatively it was affecting me. Being a depressed teenager, I always thought it was comforting to know that others felt the same way that I did. But looking back, I can only see how it made me feel worse and contributed to my worsening depression. Everything was far too glamorized, and I eventually came to terms with the fact that tumblr can be really toxic, and for me it definitely was that.

link to the breakfast nook or a picture of it? you hyped it up now i have to see it lol

I think the focus should be less on tumblr (because this happens in many other social sites, and romanticizing sadness has been going on since forever) and the teens that post, and more on the situation they live in. Self medication, self harm, depression, etc dont happen because of tumblr but because of many external causes. Most times teens just dont have any other place where they can express their feelings (family and school are not often welcoming enough to make as easy as you insinuate to get help), its not a matter of actively choosing to "get treatment in tumblr". I feel like focusing criticizing tumblr so much not only can alienate the kids in there that might need help, but that its a shallow and easy critique that really goes nowhere to analyze or change the real causes, which are way bigger

I had no problem reading depressed and suicidal quotes because i thought i could relate to them. It also really encouraged me in to channelling my thoughts through words until, my depression got severe and i couldn't write or share anymore. And seeing many people today self-diagnosing themselves with multiple mental illnesses and carelessly showing it off as some kind of quirk without really understanding what some people go through makes me really sad.

It’s weird... now when people ARE genuinely happy it seems to be looked down upon, example would be someone just being happy and another person being like ‘Ugh, I wanna be as happy as you.’ And the happy person will just immediately like... victimise themselves and will just be like ‘you don’t know what I have to go through everyday, I’m so depressed and i get panic attacks all the time.’ And idk it just seems to like... ugh idk. This doesn’t make any sense but... yeah

My favorite singer just wrote a book called Turn Your Pain Into Art. I remember her saying that she wanted to practice self love and that when she’s writing songs about pain, she doesn’t have to be in a dark place to do it. She also said that a lot of times in rock music people think it’s okay to flaunt your pain, but she doesn’t like to do it that way.

Sadly, it's still like this. Sometimes there are posts about how you should not romanticize mental illness and how they really aren't cool, but for every post like that there's too many edits that tell you a completely different message.

Music romanticize depression too.... too often when I listen to such music with their video I impersonate such situations and act as if I am depressed .... your brain mirrors what we see often .... It's high time that Industry stop this

My family has a history of mental health. And when I see people faking it or making it seem okay Is just so horrible. Suicide and self harm isn't fun it isn't beautiful.

As a young teen in this very era of tumblr you are talking about, I can absolutely verify that it’s toxic. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and I felt so alone in the world, useless and suicidal. So I turned to the online community. It made me feel relieved to know that plenty of other people out there felt the same things I did, but indeed, eating disorders, depression, self harm, and suicidal thoughts were romanticised and even glorified. Seeing these kinds of posts and self harm images daily just reaffirmed my negative mindset. I withdrew and developed an eating disorder and started self harming. I think social media had a massive influence on this. It made it look beautiful.

I completely agree. I know it feels comforting to know you aren't alone and get validation, but these "communities" where people just surround themselves with horrid negativity are in no way healthy. I get sharing your pain through art, it's one of the main reasons I do it, and to make people feel less alone with their feelings. But there are ways to do it without actually promoting those feelings and behaviours. I'm so glad I never got involved in those communities, but still some of the mindsets reached me when I was younger and definetely messed me up a bit. Bringing attention to mental health issues is fantastic, but normalizing it in a negative way is super unhealthy. I know I started to feel like it was normal to feel suicidal or depressed through these kinds of posts.

Hi sarah, I think would be a great idea to show art / artists that you know, that represent or express mental illness in a better way.

As someone who actually struggles with depression and anxiety it always makes me super mad to read those things or sometimes even encounter people irl who romanticize it like this. I've been to a psychiatric hospital, I've been taking pills... it's not pretty, it's not nice and it's not artistic. It's horrible. And it's an illness and not an accessory.

For the first four that she shared I didn't really see them as..romanticizing depression..I suffer from depression and a few of those first images explain how I feel

Bruh...can't understand anyone "romanticizing" depression... My uncle killed himself by jumping off a giant tower....he was 33 y.o...and had depressions....i can tell you.. He drove a nice Audi , and had a beautiful house, he earned much money.....but nothing like this could've stoped him from having a terrible life.... When my family heard what he did to himself....there was no romance in it at all for us....

I'm so glad I avoid that part of tumblr, it's depressing and toxic and it's terrible. Luckily I have found the (now pretty dominant) part of tumblr that encourages recovery, therapy and self care and that has really helped me personally. But you are right the depression glorifying part is a real problem (but I also once accidentally found the neo nazi side of tumblr that was horrific)

Tumblr def still has a lot of these kind of posts. Especially eating disorder ones that romanticize it, so dangerous and sad

Thank you for saying this. People say they have depression and just joke about it and it is not ok

“Suicidal people are angels who just wanna go home” that quote makes me cringe so fucking hard, no, suicide isn’t “cute” or “good” in any way, it’s gross that people encourage suicide .

I was wondering I’m an artist and I suffer from mental problems and I use that in my art to bring awareness to it so I have pieces on bipolar disorder and some on depression but none are graphic and you need to look at it for long periods of time to understand what it’s really about what do you think? Is that okay? I’m questioning if I should make art on it and if I should change my muse to something else? I really value your opinion, especially due to your degree xxx ❤️

@skins seasons 3-4

When I started using tumblr in like 2013/14 probably I was only like 16 maybe earlier and younger can't remember. Which for a lot of people was the height of my depression. I had a lot happen and stuff, so I went to Tumblr and saw these posts. Sometimes id see self-harm that was worse than mine and in my brain just kind of feel like "oh my depression isn't real because of my self-harm isn't that bad". Which is silly now to me, but you know as a 16year old self-harming person, it was really toxic. I think I spiralled alot and spent so much time reading all this "sad artsy" stuff. Instead of getting better. So i agree with you in this video so much, and I love the breakfast nook.

This came out on my birthday, wow- besides that weird bit, I love this video. Thank you for making this video, I really appreciate it that you're spreading awareness or at least trying to stop making mental illnesses "quirky".

Umm. I see where you’re coming from, but using this logic, you could say that a lot of songs romanticize mental illness. There are a lot of poetic songs about depression and suicide and sad feelings and those words are set to beautiful music pieces. That’s precisely what these posts do (in my opinion). They’re just smaller poems that express people’s opinions on the subject in an artistic way. I don’t think it’s inviting teens to kill them selves or harm themselves. To me personally, when I see them, I feel less alone in the world. I look at them and see that there are people like me and I’m not crazy. I still go to therapy and have professional help, but the 6/7 days of the week when I don’t have therapy, posts like these, and songs with dark lyrics, really do help. And I truly believe that’s what these intend to do.

Here's my take on this whole topic: people who have depression are beautiful but depression isn't what makes them beautiful

(I know im watching this video so late lol) What is so sad is that when I was suffering depression through like 6th-7th grade, Tumblr was a place I was on a lot and there were actually some guides on Tumblr on how to harm yourself in different ways and even ways to make make yourself throw up, which I actually used during that time. Tumblr gave me this mindset that there was no help for me and I was always going suffer as I was. I continued to feel this way until my mother actually forced me to go to therapy. Tumblr is honestly really dangerous if you're on the wrong parts of it. Now I still use Tumblr but usually to promote feminism and equality and self-love. I'm really glad that you made this video! Love you!

Its still TOTALLY RELEVANT. i cant be on tumblr anymore because thinspo and depression posts are too triggering

all of these flooded me back into 2015 me. damn so much can change in so little time.

A year has passed but this video is still relevant. More so now that some social media influencers think to profit by making merchandise with quotes romanticizing anxiety and depression. Instead of bringing awareness they're creating more problems. This is my first time watching your video. I like your setup here.

I saw a post on tumblr about a little girl suffering with suicidal thoughts and some girl captioned it with "so proud" I got really mad too.

love love love this video, my middle school tumblr years were filled with posts like this and it was super damaging to me growing up when dealing with my anxiety disorder. this video was super well put together and you look so beautiful in it as well!!

someone please forward this to john green

Great Job, 13 Reasons.

I’m so happy that you’re talking about this stuff because I was one of those kids that looked at these posts and was influenced by them. And it makes me sad that people do this or did because now that I’m older and I’ve survived that time in my life I want to be like you and be able to help people, I’m glad there’s at least someone talking about it

When I was younger and involved in things like that I was in a horrible place, when I gave up all social media, focused on myself, and found real things that help me I felt so so so much better. These posts and communities are like echo chambers for sadness and depression

I feel like these kinds of posts are just leftover from the emo culture from the mid to late 2000s, I mean, talk about suicide and self-harm glorification! I hope it isn't very popular anymore. Personally, I'm seeing a rise in pro-medication, therapy, and do what helps you best mental health culture.

What do you think about so called Vines, that "cure" depression? I often see such videos pop up in my recommended videos. I believe it's strange click baiting...

Always waking people up, your hair looks so healthy and your skin is glowing! Love you, always proud of you. xoxo

this is relevant as hell. a tumblr post like these is what made me think self harm was okay, and i still remember the one i saw the night i did it the first time, the image is burned in my memory as i used it almost as a guide. people have to understand whether or not these images are still there, they have and still are affecting those who viewed them. i knew all this time that it was wrong, but i guess i needed to hear someone else say it to validate how i felt about these posts. so thank you for that.

I stay away from this depression community when on tumblr because eventhough I don't suffer from depression (but I do suffer from a whole lot of other mental health stuff) but seeing stuff like this makes my mood dangerously down. There are a whole lot of good groups on tumblr there, such as the actually autistic comunity

i feel like this could have been put together better. saying "some might be lyrics" is lazy, and sort of saying someone can make art from depression but then saying pairing images with quotes that make someone feel something is inherently wrong is dismissive in both an ignorant and rude way.

the setup is perfect! and i love the fact that you talk about this subjects, it is very important to bring awareness.

People in my school fake depression and mental illnes bcs they think it's cool or quirky, but tons of ppl, me included suffer from what they're faking and it's so annoying when they aren't even trying to hide the fact they do this for attention

I know that the romanticisation of depression and mental illness has been prevalent on instagram for years now, I think that it’s a co-occurring problem on multiple social media platforms

Thank you for making ths important video.

As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder for about half my life, I know that in my teen years, tumblr definitely made me feel like what I was doing was normal and made it into some kind of fucked-up “beautiful” thing... In like 2008, it was SO easy to find this kind of content on tumblr, including pro-ana advice that my 15 year old self absorbed like a sponge. I had a friend that started abusing prescription drugs who was influenced by this type of content as well. I am glad that tumblr has changed and gotten more strict with this content, but it’s intense how easily influenced we can be when we are young, even by something as seemingly innocuous as a “pretty picture” with some damaging words written over it. There is real danger in romanticizing mental illness and I can personally attest to the effect it had (and honestly still has) on me. Do you think you could do a similar video someday talking about those like...“relatable” depression memes? (Idk if that makes sense) I feel like those are just as damaging and I’d love to know what you think!

I hit a really dark emotional point right at the beginning of my teens, which is also when the internet became a regular part of life. Seeing posts like these, not even on tumblr but just around the internet, gave me this deeply ingrained idea that to be loved I had to be broken. Broken was beautiful, and wearing the pain I was going through on my sleeve was the only way to be vulnerable and ‘honest’, and it got me into seriously damaging situations. I have since gone through therapy and gotten medication, but I still struggling with this idea of emotional trauma and love being tied together. Every year it lessens, especially as I learn more about myself and invest in myself and love myself more, but I still avoid dating. It didn’t even take long for my brain to get like this, but it’s taking me years to unlearn. Please, be safe on the internet kiddos. ❤️

The mental heath quotes make me CRINGE so badly now that I’m old Like if you agree

please do a video on the romanticisation of eating disorders and the 'pro anna' community!! I think its something that really needs to be talked about.

TW I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Gacha community, but when I was 11/12 I was super involved in it. Something they did a lot was romanticized suicide and self-harm. They also showed characters with cut arms without any warning. Now, years later, when I am deep into self-harm, I look back and I am very sure that when I first started self-harming (which was also when I was in the community) I did it because, while I did feel mentally unwell, I had seen in Gacha that it was on okay way to escape, and now I’m stuck in a cycle. Romanticizing suicide/self-harm is so so terrible and it kickstarted my self-harming and probably others’. STOP

I think you portrayed this perfectly. I was, among many others who struggled mentally from a young age and I was also in an abusive relationship at the time, so I used to turn to tumblr in search of 'hope'. Knowing others felt the same way made me feel better, short-term. Little did I know it was only making matters worse for my recovery. But I was stuck in a viscous cycle of feeling low - turning to tumblr - feeling less alone (but in the mean time, only inspiring my susceptible mind to the ideas of self harming / overdosing and suicide. I was planning on creating my own video for my channel, where I react to some of my own tumblr posts from when I was a teen. Thank you for making this video, keep raising awareness x

I think these kind of videos and review videos on your horror channel are my favorites! 🙋👍😘

yess i'm so exited to watch this

I got sucked into these pictures and eating disorder pictures like these four years ago when I was at my worst. Thank you for talking about this! Love you and what you do

I really did used to think like this, and it's because I read some posts saying that self harming would take away the pain and stress and it was distracting from the troubles of life, that I actually started doing it. This is a very dangerous mentality, and I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks this.