Don’t let your kids use the internet, cause they might kill themselves.
Somehow I came across the following story on ABC: Webcam Catches Attempted Suicide on Tape. A young woman was chatting with her boyfriend; they got into a fight; young woman attempts to commit suicide herself by hanging herself, while on webcam. The boyfriend called the young woman’s father, who lived in the house and told him what was happening; the father ran down to his daughter, cut her down, and she survived.
That’s pretty wack, but I guess it’s bittersweet that the father was able to save his daughter’s life, thanks in part to the immediate reaction of the boyfriend.
The strange thing about this article is that it presents the issue, not as a medical/social/psychological problem, but as an example of misusing the Internet. It’s the social media bogeyman; people are so connected that they are doing CRAZY, CRAZY things on the Internet! It’s like “idiotic teens/young people and their Internet! Why must they do everything on the Internet?”
A detective investigating the issue stated “that he’s relieved the woman is now safe but that the entire incident serves as a grave reminder of how the Internet can be abused.”
This is a very strange comment. While it appears at the end of the article, it really frames the whole spin of the story. With that view in mind, would policy makers, cops and parents actually think that the appropriate action to take if they have a suicidal child is to take away their webcams and internet access? Is that going to solve the problem? The idea of treating suicide as a form of stupid misbehaviour is irresponsible and scary. The decision of this young woman to do what she did does come across as someone just trying to get attention, or hurt someone else, but we don’t know her whole story. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by suggesting that MAYBE, just maybe, the girl had some mental health issues, which required treatment.
