Public Suicides on the Web
Last Wednesday over a hundred people watched as a 19-year-old Florida teen committed suicide. At around 3am the teen posted a suicide note on an internet forum and included a link to his webcam. When people tuned in they could see him laying motionless on a bed. For hours viewers watched while talking back and forth about what they should do. Eventually, after about 12 hours, somebody was able to find his contact information via his username and the authorities were called. The teen was pronounced dead at 6pm that night.
It’s not uncommon for people to commit suicide in public. We hear of people jumping off of bridges or from tall buildings. A few years ago a young woman was found dead outside my office building when she jumped from a neighboring building. But, now with the internet and webcams, people can perform public suicides from the comfort of their own home.
Many people didn’t know if this was for real, quite a few didn’t know what to do about it, and, disturbing, some even egged him on. What would your teen do if faced with this situation? Hopefully they wouldn’t do the later. Instead they should try to contact the forum moderator or the website owner to see if the identity of the person can be determined. It’s sad that we live in a society where people spend time laughing and ridiculing a troubled young man instead of acting and trying to help.
Anonymity is powerful.
Anonymity allows the weak to speak truthfully to power. Anonymity is how we know China’s government isn’t always nice to its inhabitants.
On the other hand, I’m reminded of this graphic…
http://aidenvdh.rootnode.net/fun_gallery/imgs2/1191870712560.jpg
Anonymous: Because none of us are as cruel as all of us.
Lynchings weren’t solitary events. No one ever dunked a witch inside the privacy of a courthouse. Once you reach a certain level of cruel (or stupid, or dangerous), you really need an audience. The chorus amplifies in a non-linier fashion.
I doubt my child will ever have the opportunity to commit suicide on the internet but this incident does have real world application to me and, probably, other parents. Would that 19-year-old have lived if he did not have an audience throwing rocks?
Kids tend to make better decisions when they don’t have an audience of peers. A 16-year-old driving alone is statistically far less likely to have an accident than a teen driving with two or more friends.
Crap. I forgot where I was going with that. Figure it out and get back to me, please. Thanks!
—Isis