Millennials and Suicide Humour

The generation known as ‘Millennials’ — generally those born between the early 1980’s and early 2000’s — have shown through many studies to currently have the highest rates of anxiety and suicidal ideation. These same studies suggest that the roots of this shift lie more in cultural changes than any genetic influences, with the highest rates of suicide being found in youth who have a cultural background of high performance expectations and individualism (Twenge 2011:469–70).

But despite, or maybe because of, the way many people (and especially millennials) are affected by the patterns in suicide rates, there is also a proliferation of dark humour about suicide appearing throughout social media and arguably also in daily conversation. It can be viewed as a cathartic release in reaction to the economic and other cultural pressures faced by Millennials at this time. This isn’t necessarily the first time a generation has reacted to the culture of the times however, as it is comparable to the Dadaism movement after WW1, as an anti-art movement that expressed a growing discontentment with the culture, politics and other social values faced at the time.