How Technology Can Help You Detect and Prevent Suicidal Behaviors in Your Child

Most kids are back in school now and a new year brings a lot of learning and fun.

But it can also be difficult for many students who are bullied. Sometimes that bullying can even lead to suicide.

Among children ages five to 12, a total of 1,309 of them have committed suicide since 1999 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Plus, youth suicide is the second leading cause of death among people between the age of 15 and 24 according to kidsdata.org.

Titania Jordan, Chief Parent Officer of the child internet safety app called "Bark," told CBN News that many parents don't realize how deadly cyber bullying can be.

"I don't think parents are fully aware until it happens to their child. I think we as a society need to understand that close to 75 percent of children are experiencing cyber bullying these days. It's just a function of the fact that they all have a device by the time they are 13," Jordan said. "Not only are they being cyber bullied, but they're cyber bullying."

Bark is fighting this trend by helping parents monitor and detect their children's activity online. Parents can connect their child's social media, email, and texting accounts to Bark while artificial intelligence monitors any suspicious activity.

"Our artificial intelligence will run in the background to look for those things like cyber bullying, sexual content, thoughts of suicide and depression, potential drug use, online predators," she said.

If Bark finds any of those red flags on a child's phone, they immediately alert the parents and give them advice on how to handle the situation.

So far, Bark has helped prevent at least 33 child suicides.

"It's an honor to be able to work in technology that helps families, helps parents, and keeps children safer online," Jordan said.