Nearly one in six high school students have seriously considered suicide, with one in 12 having attempted it, on top of military suicide rates, which hit a record high in 2012; with statistics like these, there is clearly no one cause for this act, but rather many factors that can quickly add up and make life unbearable for many. Those factors include: socioeconomic status, employment, occupation, sexual orientation and gender identity, just to name a few.

 And as many of us depend heavily upon our iPhones to go about our daily activities, it may not be surprising that Siri is highlighted for now dolling out key information that can help reduce this number of self-inflicted end-of-life that seems to be growing by the year. In fact, Apple (News - Alert) has recently taken the brave step forward in assisting individuals down on their luck who may think they have no other option than to cut their life short. The company did this by enabling Siri to automatically give someone who mentions anything related to suicide the national Suicide Prevention Lifeline number. For example, while in the past saying “I want to jump off a bridge” could have prompted search results to be delivered to end-users such as the closest bridges to the current location, that is no longer the case.

"If you are thinking about suicide, you may want to speak with someone at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline," the service will announce when the sentence "I want to kill myself" or something similar is spoken.  

How does Siri actually help someone considering suicide?

While the use of Siri could give someone desperate for help what they need in a much shorter period of time than if they had to look for these helpline numbers themselves, it is still yet to be seen how effective the enhanced knowledge powered by the solution will be. One thing is for sure though: many people continuously tell and ask Siri things that they wouldn’t dare voice to some of their closest friends or family members.

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"You would be really surprised. There are quite a number of people who say very intimate things to Siri or to computers. People who are very isolated tend to converse with Siri," John Draper, director of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Network, commented in a statement.

At this time, there are actually multiple applications available via iTunes that can assist a depressed individual through the device of their selection. Coined ‘ASK,’ this particular application encompasses suicide warning signs, ways in which to ask someone if they are thinking about suicide and even local hotlines to call.

If you have the suspicion that someone you care about may be planning a permanent fix to an assortment of temporary problems, do something before it’s too late, whether it is having a heart to heart with them or someone else that they trust and believe in.