Online Suicide: How Would We Handle It?

Recently, a 19 year old young man by the name of Abraham Biggs committed suicide online by drug overdose while streaming live video of his sad and tragic demise over an internet blog. Abraham had been discussing his suicidal thoughts for quite some time before he had decided to take action and commit the act. But despite the warnings, people visiting the forum were he was discussing suicide did nothing to help this person. Instead, the commentators on the blog not only watched the event unfold, but also encouraged this troubled teen to end his life.

The internet is becoming more and more of a depraved and downright sick, twisted environment where any idiot with a spoonful of semi active gray matter has a voice that can influence people. This tragedy could have been avoided if only the proper authorities were notified in time. But the fact that this person is now dead is testament to the fact that we live in a world were people just do not car about each other anymore. Rather, we are becoming more like a modern Roman Coliseum where people are victimized for the amusement of the heartless crowds. Abrahams contributions to our society will never be known but maybe we can use his death to mark a turning point for the better.

I’ve been thinking about this for the past two days now and I’ve been wondering; what if somebody came to ATS talking frequently about committing suicide. How would we members handle it? How would the ATS administration handle it? Would the threat of suicide be taken seriously or would we wait until tragedy occurred?

I would like to think that we could prevent something like this from happening on ATS but that remains to be seen.

One thing is certain, our society is crumbling and we need to change before it’s too late.

Story

I think there is also another thread on this www.abovetopsecret.com...
I dont see the point in killing yourself, be it in front of people, or if no one knew you existed.

reply to post by psychedeliack

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There is a thread on the story.

There is not a thread on my topic.

[edit on 21-11-2008 by LiquidMirage]

The ones who encouraged him might get a visit from the police for accessory and rightly so.

Well from the story it was an obvious cry for help,but i dont think it is my or your right to tell anyone that *really* wants to commit suicide to not.Its a decision which i would back 100% anyone who made with a clear mind and clear intentions.

reply to post by LiquidMirage

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Well, treatment he received on that forum would NEVER be tolerated here. ATS staff would not allow it to happen or get remotely that far.

But if someone came on here saying "im going to kill myself" and that was it....eh, not sure what protocol is.




[edit on 11/21/2008 by greeneyedleo]

being an idealist i'd like to think that we would save that person. bombard them with love and hope, reassurance and acceptance. that's the kind of world i want to live in.

You dont. Suicide is just natural selection on auto-pilot.

As far as people watching/encouraging goes who hasnt known some whiny emo/goth terd who would exclaim a desire for suicide at the slightest thing? I've know far too many and tragically none have committed suicide despite my constant encouragement. Who in that chat room could have had any idea that:

A) the kids wasnt some whiny emo terd
B) some drama queen
C) pulling a practical joke
D) testing some performance 'art' garbage for reaction

Who the hell knows whats really going on when somebody is behaving like an ass online? The possibilities are endless. To hold any of them accountable for anything other than wasting time on the internet would ridiculous.

I would ask a moderator to do a track on the IP and at the very least would hope we could try and figure out who the poor soul was and send hep to their home.

At the very least I would not be telling them I didn't think they would go through with it and I would not try and get them to prove me wrong.

reply to post by LiquidMirage

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Yup yup yup! Thats why I said also and not already

It reminds me of that movie Untraceable, where the more people that watch a murder, the faster the victim dies.

Lucky for us, the majority of ATS members are quite respectful and the Moderators would, as greeneyedleo said, never allow this to happen. In all honesty, though, I wouldn't believe anyone if they talked about suicide on a forum. There are so many trolls and people who just want attention that I wouldn't believe the person was serioius..but I would never encourage it or taunt him/her.

I've had a family member commit suicide and there is absolutely nothing funny about it, the things it puts loved ones through is terrible. If I had the chance to meet someone who encouraged this guy, I would give them a very strong piece of my mind, and my fist.

Edit: Grammatical stupidity.

[edit on 21-11-2008 by Alexander_Supertramp]

I'm only familiar with one specific example of this occurring on ATS in my almost one year here. In this case, several Christians ministered to the member in u2u, prayed for him, and let him know he had a friendly ear with us whenever he needed to talk.



The thread was closed, which was why we took our attempt to help him to u2u.

That's the only example I know of.

Edit: Just in case this needs to be clarified: It wasn't a 'I'm definitely going to kill myself' thread. Just a 'I feel suicide is the only way sometimes' type of thread. Anyways, the staff closed the thread to prevent it from going in the wrong direction (like ridicule from the members) and probably so an incident like in the OP wouldn't have a chance of happening.

[edit on 11/21/2008 by AshleyD]

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

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No, it's not. Suicide can happen to anyone. Be lucky you, and those you love, have never suffered from serious depression.

reply to post by LiquidMirage

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Hey LiquidMirage,

What a tragic story that is, the people that encouraged him should be tormented for the rest of their days ... how dispicible 'Man' can be sometimes.

There have actually been a couple of threads on here where, the OP sounded depressed and hinted at suicidal thoughts ... but I'm pleased to say the majority of responses these threads received were sympathetic and supportive.

I think if it happened here (with serious intent), there would be plenty who would try to talk them around and offer suggestions ... and I also believe the 3 Amigo's would do everything in their power to trace the source of the OP and send help.

ATS is like no other site I've ever encountered ... whilst there is of course a percentage of thoughtless/ignorant members (that's life I'm afraid), the overall number of people here will draw together for each other when the need arises.

Woody

I think there is alot of gray area and potential for liability in trying to handle such an occurance.

It is one of those darned if you do darned if you don't situations, if we tried to "solve" the issue we could be considered to be "out of our league" and even accused of preventing the person from getting the accepted medical help society deems the proper way to go.

Personally I like the example given by AshleyD.

We would never really know if we happened to be the last person that someone would attempt to reach out to.

Love and concern would be very important, but it isn't a perfect world and there isn't a perfect solution.

Good topic, OP.

I know there are many who simply want attention, but is it too much to ask that people still behave like they have hearts?

If you think it's fake, ignore it..but there is no point in encouraging suicidal thoughts, except to show heartlessness and cruelty. We have become so used to murder and countless forms of cruelty from games, movies, the media, etc. that we are becoming immune to sympathy.

The thing is a lot of people treat the interactions that they have on the internet as if it is make believe or not reality based. Often without realizing how very real the other people may be.

The truth is you never know who you may be speaking with, what kind of mind set they may have, whether or not they suffer from serious depression or not. It has been my experience that the majority of the time any indication of a suicidal thought or a hint dropped in a subtle manner is a cry for help.

Cases like Mr. Abraham are what happens when people ignore it or do not take it seriously. Someone may be on their last leg when you speak with them and it may only take one idiot saying something stupid to trigger that person to kill themselves. The results are very permanant.

My sister volunteers her time at a suicide hotline two weekends of each month and by her account you simply would not believe the number of people out there who are desperate and struggling to hold on. A kind word of encouragement from a stranger can often be the difference between that person living or dieing.

Take it seriously...it isnt a joke.

Aunt gets sad. All sorts of things go on. This was back when ECT was still big. Hospitalized and had her head juiced for months. Family thinks, why is she so sad? All kinds of ridiculous treatment and money and time. Then she's just fine. Her depression might have been genuine but suicide never came into the picture. She never considered it.

Then, the phenom of 'disability' hits the family. Everyone starts looking at each other and whispering and plotting. Next thing I know an entire side of the family is popping pills and living off of disability because they told their doctors they were sad. A great majority of them are still milking it for no other reason than they are useless welfare slobs. Joke was on me because my sorry ass as a taxpayer was funding their admitted sloth. Now all the pills are catching up and they're getting sick. I guess, I'll still be the working idiot paying for their treatment and subsequent funerals.

In high school we had some shrink come in and talk to us. She and her partners tried to sell me a load like you wouldnt believe. Why should they care? I was insured so they'd get there money no matter what they wanted to jam down my throat or how long they wanted me to sit on a couch.

So, in my immediate and extended family we maybe had one genuine case of depression and an awful lot of cheating, stealing and conning.

That is the extent of my boo-hoo depression experience. That and being an adolescent in the 90's. Everybody and their cousin was complaining about being 'depressed' then. You werent "cool" unless you tried to slit your wrists or down a bunch of pills at least once.

To show the seriousness of suicide:

Source

Suicides account for about 55% of total gun-related deaths each year. Anyone who knows someone who committed suicide knows that there it is nothing to take lightly. I hope the guy's family gets through this tramatic event.

I know a British based forum, where an American member once claimed in a thread he was going to commit suicide...

Various moderators and members tried to convince him not to do it... But more importantly, Admins gave police the users IP address and American police very quickly turned up at his house, turned out it was a sick joke. But the Admins stood by their acitons, and the members agreed.

Now I would hope things like that would happen on all forums. But on webcam sites, it is true...you simply don't know what is going on. Many people use these sites to test their acting abilities.