[Editor’s warning: many of the links in this story lead back to the original sources of
the drama. We've decided not to embed them in-line and thus left it to you to view. Viewing them
might be disturbing for some readers. Please be advised.]
In a
tragic story from NewTeeVee, we learn that a 19-year-old user of the online
live-streaming video service Justin.TV has apparently commit suicide in front of an audience of
fellow forum dwellers egging him on during the process. The death has been confirmed with the
Broward County medical examiner and the timeline has been pieced together from several different
forums that have chronicled the unfortunate series of events.
Most of the
participants, as well as the deceased Abraham K. Biggs, were denizens of steroid information forum bodybuilding.com. Biggs, also known as
CandyJunkie on the forum and Feels Like Ecstasy on Justin.TV, is alleged to have been a “well known
troll” on the forum. He created a thread in the “misc” category yesterday
afternoon detailing the amount of drugs he’s going to take with the intention to kill
himself.
The moderators of the forum didn’t take his threats seriously “on account of his past
trolling,” and other forum members continue to egg him on. At that point, Biggs posted
his suicide
note, which conveyed a general sense of depression and disappointment with life, not
necessarily motivated by any hardship or cyber-bullying he may have received online.
At that point, Biggs turned on his Justin.TV channel, took the pills and laid down to go to sleep on his bed.
After an unspecified amount of time, one forum member in particular from India became concerned
by Biggs’ lack of movement and hunted down the actual name and location. He then pleaded
with the forum to call the Miami-Dade police department, but was met with cynical replies
declining to intervene on account of his “troll status.”
After several unsuccessful emails by the forum member to Miami-Dade police, he borrowed his
father’s mobile and spoke to a number of policemen who didn’t take the call
seriously, but directed him to the Broward County Sheriff’s Department.
Approximately an hour later, BSO and paramedics arrived on the scene and after quickly confirming his status,
covered the camera.
This Isn’t a Result of Cyber Bullying, but the Behavior is No Less Atrocious.
We’re no stranger to covering suicides that take place with a large
social component, and as chilling as it may be, this sort of thing will cease to be headline news
in the future and actually be regarded as commonplace.
In 2004, students of Japanese culture were shocked to learn of online suicide
clubs amongst the youth there. Over the the summer, I covered here at Mashable a series of suicides that were
highly documented by virtue of their Bebo pages.
Children and young people committing suicide is not new. Doing it in full view of
the public by virtue of their social networking profiles or even live on camera as with Biggs is.
This is simply a side-effect of our always on culture.
It’s easy to look for bad people or the misbehaved as scapegoats, and in this particular
instance, there is plenty of blame to go around. A screen capture of the chat room next to Biggs’ camera shows a shocking
disregard for his feelings and of human life in general. Those of us who’ve been denizens
of the Internet for any length of time know
this is nothing new.
Events such as this are bait for politicians and empathetic impetus for well-meaning citizens
alike to come together with righteous fury for social change and try to either pass a law or
convict a suspect to “right the wrong,” “find justice,” and
“prevent it from occurring again.”
I won’t pretend to know the pain of Biggs’ family, or any other family of a suicide
victim, but as I said in the aftermath of the Bebo Suicide Cult, technology
isn’t the demon here, only a conduit for the symptoms. It is the portal that can allow us
assist our loved ones and perhaps spot a tragedy like this some distance off. Social media and
social networking is meant to facilitate real live human interaction, which in the case of the
depressed and suicidal can be what the doctor ordered.
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Recommandations
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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