With the increasing popularity of the Netflix series "13 Reasons Why," suicide and mental disorders have become more and more discussed. This in itself isn't a bad thing, until you bring in the memes, the jokes, and the absolute ignorance of its true power.

People are welcome to post what they'd like on the internet. That's the beauty of it, but it also gives people the power to hide behind a screen and cause harm, sometimes intentional, hopefully not.

It's become commonplace on social media to share the phrases "I wanna die," "I'll just kill myself", or others of the like. It's not meant in a harmful way - I'm well aware it's all facetious - but it has truly gotten out of hand. It's impossible to scroll down without finding a post including one of these phrases.

A recent meme that's been circulating twitter involves Hannah Baker's tapes. People will describe a simple annoyance (something as small as not getting a text back in time) and then reference Hannah Baker making a tape about it being one of the causes of her death. Comparing the slightest irritation to a cause for suicide is simply disgraceful and reprehensible, and is so rude that it surely cannot be classified as humor.

Once a tragedy occurs, the way people avoid the truth is honestly astounding. Lavish ceremonies are held; strangers come to the microphone to say some general words about a person they never knew, shedding fake tears to seem genuine. The papers won't state the cause of death as "suicide", preferring to state that he/she "fell from a building" or "suffocated" portraying a tragic accident. No. Half-truths are not sufficient in this.

"You're useless."

"No one would miss you."

"You're not doing any good being alive anyways."

People struggle with these thoughts echoing in their heads all day on repeat.

Suicide is not a joke.

It's real, and it has happened right on our beloved campus.

I may be just another butthurt, politically-correct college kid, but I find it somewhat offensive and heartless that people could even consider publicly announcing these words to the entire world as a joke. You never know how you're affecting people with your words, but I urge you to please be considerate and think before you post. Someone's sister, brother, daughter, son, best friend, or parent could be next to succumb to those dark waters.