Teen Commits Suicide Live Online

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Pearl

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A Florida teenager who used a webcam to live-stream his suicide Wednesday was reportedly encouraged by other people on the Web site, authorities told ABCNews.com.

"People were egging him on and saying things like 'go ahead and do it, faggot,' said Wendy Crane, an investigator at the Broward County Medical Examiner's office.

Abraham Biggs, 19, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., had been blogging on an online body-building message board and had linked to his page on Justin.tv, a live video streaming Web site, where the camera rolled as he overdosed on prescription pills, according to Crane.

Biggs, who had reportedly been discussing his suicide on the forums, also posted a suicide note on a body-building forum, which has since been taken down, in which he wrote, "I hate myself and I hate living."


ABC News: Florida Teen Live-Streams His Suicide Online

This is horrible!
What is society coming to when people think its OK to encourage someone to commit suicide? Do these people actually think its funny, or do they not realize how desperate a person is?
 
Michael, my son, called to ask me if I could deposit some money into his account.
I asked him how much.
He said "I don't care, I just need to buy a nice shirt for a funeral".

One of his childhood friends commited suicide a few days back.
He put a shot gun to his head.
I cried all day off and on, and am welling as I type this.
It was so unnecessary.
:sad:
 
Its so sad that people can't realize that when people decide to end their life they are at the bottom of their barrell. And to think that no one reported anything.....:sad:
 
Yeah I can't believe not even one of those people had the sense to report it! Instead, they dared him and called him a faggot? Fucking assholes! :down:
 
Suicides happen, I don't know if it should be plastered over the news.


One of my friends commited suicide a few years ago. I still don't know why. It's always tragic when a person decides this is the way out.

What is so unsettling about the death of this teen is how he was encouraged by others online to kill himself. It seems not one person tried to be a friend.:ABC News: Florida Teen Live-Streams His Suicide Online
 
it's not so much that it was suicide more that he webcasted it over the internet and noone did anything about it.

yeah, it's definitely disturbing. Even if they didn't think he was serious beforehand, if he ODed there was plenty of time for someone to call for help if they saw him taking the pills. I thought it was going to be a case of him shooting himself or something fast, but to think that people watched him take the pills and then watched him pass out...? That's sick. And really sad.
 
Because a fits a 'meta narrative' that the internets is bad for society.

I think the moral of the story, if there is one, is tacked onto the end of the article:

"You'll always have the morbid jerks who yell 'Jump!' when someone's on a rooftop, and you'll always have people threatening suicide in a public venue," said Griner. "And while it's easy to focus on the abundance of bloodthirsty trolls online, the bright side is that the Internet also gives more decent people the opportunity to intervene and try to save a life."

"Most times, they just need someone to talk to, and the Internet is the only forum they have."

Essentially, loneliness is deadly, and this makes the internet necessary, in spite of its evils. Problem is, a lot of people are unable to differentiate between the morbid jerks and the level-headed human beings, and just assume that the entire world is out to get them. If the person who put this article together did so in an attempt to tear down the internet, their view of life is entirely myopic.
 
A horribly sad and tragic story. It also shows how media manipulates our sense of reality. We are living in voyeuristic times, thanks to You Tube and Co., people are used to other people seeking attention via the media, everyone's life can be on public display. It's become hard to differentiate between show and reality.
 
It's not entirely true that 'no one did anything,' and certainly not that 'everyone encouraged him'--several viewers tried to talk him out of it, and the only reason the police eventually arrived (too late) was because someone finally contacted a moderator at the bodybuilding forum, who tracked down his location and alerted the authorities. He'd apparently made numerous suicide threats on that site before, which, tragically, may have led some viewers to wrongly conclude that they need not take 'this time' seriously. It is pathetic that apparently quite a few people watched for hours before anyone took steps to contact site management or authorities, which of course should've been done right away regardless of whether they were sure he was serious, and also that some of them actually typed out reactions they should've kept to themselves. Still, I can understand to a point why some of said reactions were angry and caustic--this particular way of going about it manages to be as offensive as it is tragic... "F*** you all, it's been miserable living among you, and now I'm going to make you a helpless party to my death." While it's pointless and wrong to take offense at someone in that state of mind--it's a time to act, not react--I do think it's a fairly natural response.
 
^ are you trying to be inflammatory? I don't really think teenagers are any worse than they were a generation or two ago . . . their outlets, mode of communication and idealogies are just a little different than a few generations ago . . . anyways back to topic

this story of this poor kid ending it all on line is beyond sad and my thoughts and prayers go out to his poor tormented family - the hell they must be going through - i hope the awful people who tuned in are taking a good hard look at themselves too :sigh:
 
i've heard about this before, i remember a couple years ago someone committed suicide while in a chat, i don't remember any specifics but the last words they typed in the chat were "i told u i was hardcore" - in that case someone again tracked down the authorities. but still, it's sad. suicide certainly is not anything new, but it's become more public, i guess you could say, now that people can display it online for everyone to see. i guess all i can say is thankfully in any instance i've heard, there has been some good people out there who try to track down parents or the police, instead of watching and teasing.

i feel for anyone who wants to attempt suicide though, whatever their reasons. to be at such a low point in your life to take your life is heartbreaking to me.
 
This was a teenager with mental health issues, the fact he killed himself online is what got him in the papers, but it's really not that remarkable of a story. He'd probably have attempted suicide with or without the internet.
 
I think what makes this story a story, is that there were some people encouraging him to do it. To me. that is more disturbing than him committing suicide.
 
but it's become more public, i guess you could say, now that people can display it online for everyone to see.

I wouldn't say so. It's another form of making it public, but at its roots it's not all that different from someone jumping from a building or before any kind of driving vehicle or whatever else people do.
The difference is rather the level of interaction. Here he spoke with people right until the moment, whereas for example someone who jumps from a building doesn't

It's sad that obviously no one realized the sincerity of the situation in time, or simply didn't care.
 
This news is really disturbing. Committing suicide is a sad and selfish act in and of itself, but to do it publicly, online, in chat or via webcast LIVE is even sicker. What's this world coming to? I do hope this young man is at peace now.
 
What's this world coming to?

I guess I will never understand this notion. To me it sounds as if this was a new development which didn't exist before, and suddenly society is becoming so bad. But in fact, such things have existed even before. Only in different ways as e.g. the internet wasn't available.
 
I think what makes this story a story, is that there were some people encouraging him to do it. To me. that is more disturbing than him committing suicide.

Some people seem to check their humanity at the door on the internet-you spend enough time on it and that becomes very obvious. It's in varying degrees, but from my point of view it is possibly not such a long stretch from some of the behavior I've seen to something like this.
 
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