{"id":754197,"date":"2024-11-27T15:56:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T20:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/?p=754197"},"modified":"2024-11-27T21:27:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T02:27:26","slug":"my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm","title":{"rendered":"My Teenage Son Died by Suicide & I Blame TikTok’s Algorithm for Encouraging Self-Harm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For many adults, social media<\/a> came long after they grew up. They spent their adolescent years without the pressure of an online presence and the constant influx of influence social media brings<\/a>. Of course, some would argue they had a better youth than kids do today. Now, teens face constant exposure to information and discourse online. Jennie DeSerio’s 16-year-old son, Mason Edens, died by suicide <\/a>in 2022. His mother blames TikTok’s algorithm for encouraging her son to harm himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an essay penned for Newsweek,<\/em> DeSerio explained Mason went through his first breakup<\/a>. Not long after, she noticed a shift in his mental health. He took to spending hours a day on his phone, many of those scrolling TikTok. DeSerio claims his For You Page shared depressing content that ultimately contributed to his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More from CafeMom:<\/strong> 14-Year-Old Girl Who Died By Suicide Told To \u2018Kill Herself\u2019 By Bullies in Online Hate Groups<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many adults, social media came long after they grew up. They spent their adolescent years without the pressure of an online presence and the constant influx of influence social media brings. Of course, some would argue they had a better youth than kids do today. Now, teens face constant exposure to information and discourse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":754202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-11-27T20:57:17Z","apple_news_api_id":"c0490146-ed03-4df1-8d04-c37ab8bead10","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-11-28T02:27:30Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AwEkBRu0DTfGNBMN6uL6tEA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"nota_seo_page_title":"","nota_seo_page_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[81,84],"tags":[1873,11395,25065,25063,25062,23454,1302,25057,261],"featured":[],"internal-tag":[],"series":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nMom Says Teenage Son's Suicide Influenced by TikTok Algorithm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jennie Deserio says her teenage son, Mason Edens, died by suicide in 2022, and she blames the TikTok algorithm for encouraging self-harm.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Teenage Son Died by Suicide & I Blame TikTok's Algorithm for Encouraging Self-Harm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If he hadn't been exposed to certain content online, Mason Edens might still be alive.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CafeMom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-27T20:56:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Milan-Kostic_iStock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm\",\"name\":\"Mom Says Teenage Son's Suicide Influenced by TikTok Algorithm\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Milan-Kostic_iStock.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-27T20:56:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-28T02:27:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/371a8c9533d43794182373f71577e48b\"},\"description\":\"Jennie Deserio says her teenage son, Mason Edens, died by suicide in 2022, and she blames the TikTok algorithm for encouraging self-harm.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Milan-Kostic_iStock.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Milan-Kostic_iStock.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Milan Kostic\/iStock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"My Teenage Son Died by Suicide & I Blame TikTok’s Algorithm for Encouraging Self-Harm\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/\",\"name\":\"CafeMom.com\",\"description\":\"Parenting, Baby Names, Celebrities, and Royal News\",\"alternateName\":\"CafeMom\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/371a8c9533d43794182373f71577e48b\",\"name\":\"Colleen Thomas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4c7f9f1a356d0a2ddb1fe883720f7a03?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4c7f9f1a356d0a2ddb1fe883720f7a03?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Colleen Thomas\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/author\/cthomas\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mom Says Teenage Son's Suicide Influenced by TikTok Algorithm","description":"Jennie Deserio says her teenage son, Mason Edens, died by suicide in 2022, and she blames the TikTok algorithm for encouraging self-harm.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My Teenage Son Died by Suicide & I Blame TikTok's Algorithm for Encouraging Self-Harm","og_description":"If he hadn't been exposed to certain content online, Mason Edens might still be alive.","og_url":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm","og_site_name":"CafeMom.com","article_published_time":"2024-11-27T20:56:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Milan-Kostic_iStock.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm","url":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm","name":"Mom Says Teenage Son's Suicide Influenced by TikTok Algorithm","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Milan-Kostic_iStock.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-27T20:56:56+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-28T02:27:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/371a8c9533d43794182373f71577e48b"},"description":"Jennie Deserio says her teenage son, Mason Edens, died by suicide in 2022, and she blames the TikTok algorithm for encouraging self-harm.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Milan-Kostic_iStock.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Milan-Kostic_iStock.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Milan Kostic\/iStock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news\/my-teenage-son-died-by-suicide-and-i-blame-the-algorithm#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"My Teenage Son Died by Suicide & I Blame TikTok’s Algorithm for Encouraging Self-Harm"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/","name":"CafeMom.com","description":"Parenting, Baby Names, Celebrities, and Royal News","alternateName":"CafeMom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/371a8c9533d43794182373f71577e48b","name":"Colleen Thomas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4c7f9f1a356d0a2ddb1fe883720f7a03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4c7f9f1a356d0a2ddb1fe883720f7a03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Colleen Thomas"},"url":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/author\/cthomas"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-12-10 22:25:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754197"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":754445,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754197\/revisions\/754445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754197"},{"taxonomy":"featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured?post=754197"},{"taxonomy":"internal-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-tag?post=754197"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=754197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}