We live in a time where social media is one of the central parts of many people's day to day lives. You can go online and find all sorts of things that might interest you, and you also have freedom to post just about whatever you want. But what happens when this freedom is abused?

This happened just a few days ago when one YouTube video left millions of people in shock- striking up one of the first major controversies of 2018. The video in question was posted by Logan Paul, who has a following of over 15 million on YouTube, which includes young children and adolescents. While Logan is known for posting his day to day adventures online for his subscribers to see, one video, in particular, took it way too far. As Logan was in Japan with some of his peers, a video was posted in which they went to explore the infamous forest, Aokigahara, or the "Suicide Forest", which is known to have many suicides taking place there each year. What happens next left viewers shell-shocked. Logan and his peers came across a man hanging from a tree in this forest, a man who had actually taken his own life. Rather than cutting the camera, Logan continued to film the experience, and even filmed the body itself, leaving only the face blurred out. What is even more disturbing is the way in which these people react to seeing the body. Rather than seeming extremely shaken up or traumatized, almost all of them began to laugh and continued to make light of the situation. After the fact, Logan edited the footage, uploaded it to his YouTube channel of 15 million subscribers, and used a photo of the man's body as his thumbnail. Also, as his title- an action which no doubt attracted even more views- he named the video "We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forrest..." Since the video has gained so much criticism, it has been taken off of the site, but the backlash has still not subsided.

What is really disturbing about this situation is the many people who are actually defending Logan- the majority of them being his viewers and fans, and many of which are young children! How anyone can defend such an act is beyond comprehension, and speaks volumes to how social media figures with large followings can have an influence on the younger generations of our society. The excuses being made in defense of Logan Paul are absolutely astonishing, as no justification should be made on behalf of these actions. For starters, saying that this grown man did not understand that he was making a mistake until it was pointed out to him is beyond unreasonable. The fact that he took the time to film a victim of suicide, edited his footage, uploaded it to his channel, and used it as a thumbnail to gain more views shows that he had every chance to think about what he was doing before he let this footage become available to the mass public. He very well should have known what he was doing was wrong, and should not have needed the backlash of millions to make him realize it was a mistake. His actions were a choice and should be treated as such. In addition, Logan and his fans have defended the video stating that it was an attempt to bring awareness to suicide, but this also in no way justifies posting a video including this kind of footage. If Logan Paul truly wanted to bring awareness to suicide, he could just as easily have turned off the camera, deleted the footage, and instead included a clip in which he recounts what has just occurred, and then proceeds to bring awareness to the topic of suicide and mental health awareness. Including a clip of the victim's body was extremely disrespectful, uncalled for, and completely unnecessary to make a video about suicide awareness. There have been many other attempts to justify these actions, but absolutely none of them are reasonable.

This video was seen by millions of people, including children and teenagers, who have looked up to YouTuber, Logan Paul, and have now been subject to this. This video was extremely insensitive to the victim, his family and friends, anyone suffering from mental illness, anyone who has attempted or considered suicide, anyone who has ever known someone who has taken their own life, and just disrespectful to the overall public in general. How these people in the video could make light of such a situation, laugh at the fact that this man had committed suicide, and continued to edit and upload footage of his body to the internet is unfathomable, yet all too real.

Since the video was taken down, Logan Paul has issued both a written apology, and one in video form, yet continues to receive support and justification for his actions by fans and others who have received news of the video, though in his video apology he did ask not to be defended by fans. However, this is still something that the YouTube community should not take lightly, and there should be some action taken in response to this situation.

If you or anyone you know is considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 and do not hesitate to seek out resources closer to home, as there are plenty of people out there who are willing to help. Depression is real, suicide is real, mental health issues are real, and should never be treated as they were in this video.