MySpace. A Place for Friends, more like a place for mindgames. Get out before its to late, read why!

MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and many more have grown accustom to the modern day culture. But is it really that innocent, are these said to be harmless Social Networking sites really just a cesspool of evil?

And online graph showed that since the beginning of social networking sites being active. Teen suicide had risen 40% percent then what it was before all these networking sites were created. 76% percent of the victims of suicide in 2008 had an account on at least one of the three major Networking Sites.

Many strive to believe that the recent uproar in teen suicide is from peer pressure caused by the "Stereotypes" and "Poster Looks" portrayed in todays society, marketed by social networking sites, rather then pressure caused by bullying.

Another issue is the fact that most of these networking sites are sucking us in and they are getting the scooping in the money. The only obvious revenue they get is from advertising, so where the rest of the money coming from? Facebooks owner is worth a mere USD$1.5 Billion . Its rumored they get payed by big fashion company's etc, to portray a certain look.

The reason I wanted to make this clear is that my friend commit suicide in July last year, he was an avid fan of networking! Cause of depression: MySpace. He even wrote a goodbye note to everyone via MySpace, which is kind of airy. Saying "he's sorry he could'nt be who he wanted to be, like "disclosed" on MySpace." His account was recently closed.

I'm not saying you shouldn't open an account and network with friends or CLOSE your account immediately or at all! Just be careful, please.

I removed last post.
I am so sorry.
It appears my room mate whom I thought I
trusted seemed to take it upon himself to
post seeing as I left window open.

Again, I am sorry. Not cool at all.

Quite the surprise when I got up this morning.

My deepest sympathy the_black_project.

[edit on 8-1-2009 by cluckerspud]

First off I am sorry to hear about your friend, I did want to make an argument on the topic of your OP, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS????? and why are they not taking a more proactive role in their children(s) sicial lives if not only for guidance. This is a perental issue plain and clear parents should have clear lines of communication with their children, if more did then we would certainly hear less of these occurances happening IMO.

In the case of young adults becoming victim's to this online "demon" they should get out of the house more and talk to some real people.

[edit on 8-1-2009 by alyosha1981]

reply to post by cluckerspud

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That's a little heartless isn't it?

To the OP.... Sorry to hear about your loss, ignore the soulless jerk two posts above, he/she obviously doesn't understand the pain involved, and yes i do see where you are coming from... These sites do target the young and are very 'image' orientated. Easy to see how the young and vulnerable can get swept up in these fads.

Peace be with you.

[edit on 8-1-2009 by mr-lizard]

reply to post by alyosha1981

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There really is not much a parent can do when they are 19, and in college on the other side of the country, though he was close spirited with his parents.

reply to post by mr-lizard

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Thank you, at least someone can see my point.

reply to post by mr-lizard

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It's not just those sites, it's everywhere. "Looks are important" is a very common belief. It's all about image and it's not networking's fault. Honestly, I know it's not easy when someone you know commits suicide, I know sometimes you drive yourself crazy trying to look for answers.

And while you may think cluckerspud is a jerk, they're right. You might as well say that suicide rates have gone up since pagers were invented, or video games, or since rocker fashion came into style.

reply to post by mr-lizard

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I agree, I still have to ask what the parental involvement level is as I believe if you give your teen unlimited accesss to net with no supervision, your just asking for trouble.As far as "young adults" who fall into this deluision that "looks are everything" I feel sorry for them and feel they should seek some support if they feel this way.

[edit on 8-1-2009 by alyosha1981]

reply to post by TasteTheMagick

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No but i think cluckerspud was a little harsh in his/her response to somebody who has just suffered a loss.

Oh and i'm not claiming anything.... I'm just saying these things are very influential on a young persons mind. Ask me again in ten years.

Well, this is the other reason I created this thread. To alert parents of teenagers the statistics out there. And to have a form of parental supervision over there networking use, if the do network.

- And yes, before anyone says it, I know its in the wrong forum board.

Well I do believe that parental involvement does play a part in it. My parents always let me go around on the internet at my own freedom without blocks and all kinds of supervision. I think it's deeper rooted in the raising of the child as it grows into a teenager.

reply to post by the_black_project

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Don't worry the mods will move it, good point to alert parents of this, but I will add that some bright young Myspace ect ect users will have 2 profiles, one is called a "parents" profile and that one generally is to be used when parent(s) are present and the other one.....

reply to post by TasteTheMagick

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Though the thing with networking is that it feeds unsupervised interactive with MILLIONS of other people. Yes games and music and all that can also influence but it certainly does not cause. I am NOT saying networking is the only cause, I'm just saying, due to statistics, its a MAJOR factor!

I got rid of my myspace.com account a long time ago.....useless crap.

reply to post by the_black_project

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I really don't think it's a major factor. I had a "parental" MySpace for a long time because my brother was going around showing my close minded grandmother everyone's page and she would have started complaining about how I wasn't being very "christian" despite the fact that I'm not christian.

Back on subject, it's not the other people on MySpace that's the problem. It's all the advertising pushing image on everyone. In that sense, advertising is EVERYWHERE and you could just as easily blame commercials, billboards and any other advertising.

Again we see it there.
Making money on other people sensibility, innocence, ignorance..ect. Is the patent that this society as chosen to evolve. We can see clearly that we are not living in a caring respectful harmonious highly civilized society, but in a revengeful inadequate insensitive profit and gain orientated culture based civilization.
We can start to blame the parents, the schools, the big brothers, the creators of this kind of site, but we should really blame our self. Because we have accepted the notion of beauty, fame, celebrity, success to dictate our daily life and indulged our kids in this nonsense.
We are all guilty of letting it happen.
My condolences to your loss.
Kacou.

I'll buy into that.

The myspace sign in page is socially profiled in my opinion, insofar as is only usually contains people between the ages of 19 and 25 who would be considered "attractive" for fashion/beauty companies across the current trend genres. Occasionally - and its very occasionally - you'll get someone older on, but they will conform to the "norm" as well.

Having said that, the sites need to make their money from somewhere, and its a bit naive to believe that they are there solely for the benefit of their users.

The social "thuggery" aspect is a disturbing new trend. Its not just about looks, its all about online egos, and the ability to have a completely different "persona" on the net that is apparently unregulated and can be quite sinister.

Now the theories that such sites are a form of "self inflicted" ID tagging/monitoring is an interesting one, and I'd love to hear of instances where people are aware/thought that it was such a case.

Nie topic btw makes a change from all the "wargasm" stuff recently.

reply to post by the_black_project

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This is not a direct insult to your friend, but anyone who mentions Myspace in their suicide note had more issues than just Myspace.

By the same token, anyone who kills themselves over a social networking site - hell, ANYTHING on the Internet - they probably deserve it. There is a serious underlying issue there - parents, perhaps? - that most likely could not have been solved completely.

I don't know why suicide is viewed as a bad thing. If someone was hurting enough at the time to take their own life, I think that's their right. It's their life, who the hell is anyone else to say what they can and cannot do with it? I myself am not a suicidal person, and I find some reasons of suicide pretty ridiculous at times, but it's well within someone's right to end it all.

When someone commits suicide, I feel that everyone around them is better off. Sure, it hurts as a family member or friend. But as has been said, if you get to that point, there's an issue. If there's an issue, who's to say someone else's life will not be taken or affected by that person? To go peacefully saves everyone around you and yourself.

I'm almost positive this post will get me flamed but you can't deny that everything I said is true.

I think the solution is not to worry about what other people think about you.

It's amazing how much money people spend simply to impress other people, including people they don't even know.

For example, you can get a good working car for $5000, but people have to have something "modern". Why? Because they're worried about their image.

This is an extreme example of what can happen because "nobody likes me"...

Im sorry to hear about your loss as well.
Although I really dont agree with any of your logic.
If anything, I think the total opposite of what you think.
Yes, sometimes people can take certain things a little too seriously, such as football fans, movie go-ers and so on, but thats their choice.
Who are you or anybody else for that matter, in the position to try n say something is bad for someone else just based off of a number potraying something that has nothing to do with the other. Yes the kid or young adult may have written a goodbye note on myspace, but myspace wasnt the cause, it was a tool to get the message out to their friends and family that they had a problem with themselves.
Im sorry but I dont think I have ever heard of anybody killing themselves cause they only had 6 friends on myspace. Its not like its hard to find a friend on myspace for Gods sake.

On another note, I think that MySpace actually does the opposite of what you say. I think ithas given people a means to reach out to those people that they normally never or hardly get the chance to communicate with.
I have an account and it allowed me to talk to my friends who were deployed overseas and allowed me the opportunity to make sure that they were getting everything that they needed. It has also helped me network with other professionals in my buisness around the world whom normally I would have never thought had existed in the first place.

I can see what you are trying to say, that young adults and kids are pressured by t.v music videos and magazines ect to look a certain way in order to "fit in". But in my opinion, this isnta myspace problem, or a music video problem, its a personal problem. You cant blame the hot chic on the cover of a magazine for someone elses own personal hates about themselves. That woman on the cover of that magazine is doing what she has to do in order to get ahead in the world, just like everyone else. Sex sells, and so does everything else that comes with it. So you cant hate on her for makin her money and providing herself with a better future.

I get what you are saying though, trust me I do, but if those people who kill themselves because of physical reasons, well then they have had deeper problems prior to that probably for a long time. I had a cousin, who put a shotgun in his mouth, and blew his head off, nobody knew why, there was no note, no video, but we all think we know why. He had problems with himself that he never talked about with anyone which lead him to do what he did. That may or may not have been the reason, but more than likely, it was due to the type of person he was(closed off from people). If you suspect that someone esp family or friends are having problems, it is YOUR job to be there for them, a shoulder to cry on, causeif you arent there and they havenobody to talk to, then what is the point of living in the first place? This is a tough world, and there are a lot of people out there just like you n me doing what we have to in order to fit in, its not easy, but you cant go around blaming one thing or several for the way things are. Take the time to figure out what is the best thing about yourself, and the worst things, and work on them, thats the only way to self fulfillment. If theres no way to fix the problem(which isnt often)
than you have to jus deal with it, everyone has things about themselves that they dont like, but its how you deal with it which makes you who you are.

reply to post by NovusOrdoMundi

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You have point but suicide is suicide, it doesn’t matter what is your issue with this life to crave for none existent one.
When someone commits suicide what ever the reason is, his main issue is that the life that he is experiencing is overwhelmingly fueled with suffering. Death is the unknowable stage of one life so for the person that life has brought so much suffering it is logical that he will seek something that is outside the suffering.
I believe that it is us who suicide other because we have failed to see the great suffering that has pushed someone to the edge.
This is only my view of course.
Kacou.