Inside Utah’s war on social media

With teen suicides nearly quadrupling in Utah from 2007 to 2015, the state launched a youth suicide task force in 2018 with Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, and then Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox as chairs. A few weeks before the task force was announced, Cox traveled to Tremonton for what he thought would be a “simple” speaking assignment at a community suicide prevention meeting. He led with his prepared talking points — but then, he felt compelled to divulge his deeply personal experience with suicide. Something that he hadn’t really talked...