🌟 Spreading hope and support for those in need. Together, we can make a difference and let everyone know that they matter. 💛 #SuicidePrevention #YouAreNotAlone
Using Other People’s Pain to Gain Notoriety
For many, Yellow September is an opportunity to appear empathetic. People want to be seen as “concerned about mental health,” but the reality is that most people just want to be part of a movement that is on the rise. Posting something with the yellow ribbon has become synonymous with “I care,” when in fact very few people actually care. This can be a punch in the gut for those who believe that online activism has value, but let’s be honest: it is largely an empty form of social validation.
Performative empathy is the disease of the modern age. Other people’s mental pain is used as a way to gain clicks, likes, and followers. “Talking about mental health is important,” they say, but they only say it enough to ensure that they are seen. And this superficiality has a price: those who are truly suffering are pushed into the shadows, because digital interactions do not translate into real support. It’s a cruel irony: a month dedicated to talking about not being alone turns into a platform where those who need help the most are left even more isolated.
The Real Problem...
Let’s face it: mental health isn’t an issue that disappears in October, just as it doesn’t magically appear in September. It’s a constant and urgent issue. But we live in a society that avoids talking about it seriously because doing so would require uncomfortable changes. It’s much easier to put a yellow filter on your profile picture than to face the darker aspects of the human mind—the crushing depression, the paralyzing anxiety, the disorders that make people feel like prisoners in their own minds.
Modern society is armed to the teeth with distractions. Social media, constant consumption of entertainment, endless work—all of these things keep people busy enough to not think about their own anguish. The problem is that this approach simply postpones the inevitable: breakdown. When you ignore mental health, it doesn’t go away; it builds up. Every little neglect—a pain that’s stifled, a feeling of inadequacy that’s ignored—builds a dam that eventually breaks. And when it does, the damage is devastating.