Aaron Swartz, co-founder of Reddit, commits suicide at age 26

Aaron Swartz, an online activist and co-founder of the popular social media site Reddit, committed suicide in New York City Friday. He was 26 years old.

aaron swartz The news of Swartz’s untimely death was confirmed to MIT’s The Tech by both his uncle and his lawyer Saturday morning.

Swartz was a gifted programmer who started a company that would eventually merge with Reddit, as well as Demand Progress, a political action group that campaigns against Internet censorship.

Swartz went into his bouts with depression, once writing

“Your face falls. Perhaps you cry. You feel worthless. You wonder whether it’s worth going on. Everything you think about seems bleak – the things you’ve done, the things you hope to do, the people around you”

“You want to lie in bed and keep the lights off. Depressed mood is like that, only it doesn’t come for any reason and it doesn’t go for any either. Go outside and get some fresh air or cuddle with a loved one and you don’t feel any better, only more upset at being unable to feel the joy that everyone else seems to feel. Everything gets colored by the sadness.”

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