‘Social media is responsible’: Bullied, anorexic teen‘s tragic suicide

Mia Bannister lost her only child to suicide at age 14. This is the tragic story.

Heartbroken single mother Mia Bannister blames social media for her only child’s battle with anorexia nervosa – and his shocking suicide.

Oliver Hughes died in his bedroom on January 9. He was 14.

“There is no doubt in my mind that social media is responsible for taking Ollie down that path,” Ms Bannister, 51, says.

“We had all sorts of rules in place around screen time, and I would sometimes confiscate his phone, but it got to him anyway,” she says.

Ms Bannister, a respected figure in Queensland property circles, says her son became obsessed with TikTok videos of males “bulking up” while at the same time despising his own body.

In February last year, the Aspley State High School student weighed 74kg but by December had dropped to below 50kg and was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and immediately hospitalised by his GP.

Mia Bannister at home with pictures of her late son Oliver Hughes, 14. Picture: Liam Kidston

Ms Bannister, Queensland partnerships manager for the not-for-profit organisation Homes for Homes and a former long-term member of the Property Council of Australia, says Ollie faded away before her eyes.

“The pressure to look a certain way, the language he used including micro and macro nutrients, and even the means he used to kill himself, all this came off social media,” she says.

Following the ultimate tragedy in their Carseldine apartment, Ms Bannister checked her son’s computer history while police took his phone and analysed his social media usage.

“We had a very special bond and would talk about everything, but in the end it wasn’t enough,” she says.

“I had all the plans in place, with his GP and psychologist and a psychiatrist, to get Ollie through; I can’t believe he’s gone.”

About a year before his death, Oliver came into his mother’s bedroom one night, distraught.

“Two of his so-called friends posted on Snapchat that he should go kill himself,” says Ms Bannister, who took photos of the messages as her son sobbed.

“Boys say stupid things sometimes, and one of them apologised, but that kind of stuff stays with a kid,” she says.

Ms Bannister believes Oliver’s body dysmorphia – which saw him miss 125 days of school – could have triggered the bullying.

Mia Bannister and Oliver Hughes.

“Another mate picked on the fact that he was a ginger (red head) and called him fat, but these smart arse comments can be dangerous, especially for teenagers trying to find where they fit in life.

“Ollie used to love eating everything I cooked but then he wanted to only eat tinned tuna and rice, and began compulsively weighing his food before going to the bathroom and vomiting it up.”

Ms Bannister “can’t speak highly enough” about the care her son received from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital’s adolescent mental health service.

“They didn’t see him as a suicide risk and neither did I,” she says.

Oliver was desperate to leave hospital so started eating in order to gain a one-week release. But once home, Ms Bannister says he “started cutting himself to punish himself for eating”.

She removed all the sharp objects in the house but a week later, he was dead.

“On the morning he died, Ollie ate breakfast with me and I could tell he was a bit ‘off’ but he said he’d check in with me later in the day; he never did,” she says.

Mia Bannister with her son Oliver Hughes. Photo: Supplied.

Ms Bannister backs moves, championed by this newspaper, to raise the minimum age for social media use to 16, but says it should go ever higher, to the legal drinking age of 18.

“Children’s brains are not yet formed but social media is destroying them,” she says.

“Ollie was an old soul, and our bond was fierce.

“During that week home on leave, he came and sat on the floor in my room and asked, ‘can I sleep with you tonight, Mum?’, and I said, ‘dude, you’re a bit big for that’, and so we put a stretcher bed beside mine and he held my hand all night. I would give anything to be the one that died, and not him.”