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TechnoratiThe cold hearts of digital voyeurs
The webcam suicide of an American teenager gives the lie to the notion of an "internet community".
Earlier this month, the world witnessed
the internet version of a man standing on a ledge threatening to
jump. Instead of snarling strangers yelling “jump!”, digital
voyeurs tapped away on their keyboards as they watched the life drain
out of 19-year-old Abraham Biggs.
On November 19 at about 3am, Biggs (aka feels-like-ecstasy), began his web cast on Justin.tv with an announcement that he had overdosed on drugs. He also posted a suicide note. As this modern tragedy progressed, the chorus debated whether he had taken enough pills or whether he was faking. Others challenged Biggs to finish the job. A few tried to talk him out of it. Throughout, there were the laugh messages -- LOL and ha-hah-ha. At 11am, a few noticed that Biggs was motionless. Eventually, one viewer contacted the moderator to get Biggs’ contact information. Twelve hours after Biggs’ declaration of death, the curtain came down. Police broke down the locked door of the Florida apartment and found the young man dead.
Biggs is not the first to commit suicide on a webcam. Last year a British man hanged himself on camera. His viewers also taunted and laughed at him until they noticed that he was turning blue.
Rosalind Biggs, Abraham's sister, described her brother as an outgoing college student who loved taking his nieces to Chuck E. Cheese. Biggs also had a darker side, a history of bipolar disorder. Still, his sister says that her brother’s death was sudden and a shock.
Biggs’ family was understandably angry with his son’s callous chat room acquaintances. “It didn’t have to be,” she lamented.
His father was “appalled.” Abraham Biggs Sr. chastised his son’s viewers: "It's a person's life that we're talking about. And as a human being, you don't watch someone in trouble and sit back and just watch." The death of his child could have been prevented. A quicker response might have saved his life.
The father’s anger may be easily dismissed because there is no clear legal accountability. Nonetheless, he is correct about the moral responsibility. Abraham Biggs Sr is tortured by the idea that his son’s webcast was a cry for help. He is further tortured by the lack of response.
Understandable, but less forgivable, has been the reaction of journalists and their experts. Much of the media coverage has been focused on finding a scandal. The obvious scandal is the question of liability. Can chat rooms be sued? Lawyers say it’s a stretch.
The echo chamber of the press and cultural experts assure us that this is basically kids being kids. Associated Press summed up the event as an “extreme example of young people’s penchant for sharing intimate details about themselves over the internet”.
A University of Ohio assistant professor of popular culture told AP that the public suicide was not shocking (emphasis mine) given the way teenagers chronicle every facet of their lives on sites like Facebook and MySpace.
When did suicide become a banality in our culture? Furthermore, how could the revelation of a suicidal threat be placed in the same category as some schoolgirl’s latest crush?
Even stranger is the notion that people who remain anonymous and talk about themselves are being intimate or sharing secrets. How intimate was Biggs with the public? He never even revealed his name and address.
If Biggs is just another exhibitionistic teen, then what can be said about the spectators of this 12-hour death watch? Some may not have been certain that he was dying. They may thought that he was joking. Yet the audience watched because in the dark recesses of their minds, they were titillated by the idea that he might actually be dying. Are young people naturally this callous or does the internet harden their hearts?
Yes to both questions.
Consider the popularity of fight videos on YouTube. In a recent interview British philosopher, Roger Scruton predicts that “the result of the internet will be a widespread hardening of the human heart, and a replacement of true relationships between people with their cyber-substitutes.”
The Florida teen’s suicide shows the deficiency in these cyber-substitutes. One may find mutual interests on the internet and a semblance of friendship. Can a friendship grow in chat room where the occupants buzz by like bees going from flower to flower? As with many people seeking companionship on the web, Biggs may have bought the line that chat rooms are communities. True communities are neighbors helping neighbors; not neighbors watching neighbors for amusement.
Like the man standing on the ledge, Abraham Biggs may have been hoping for a rescue, hoping for someone standing on the street with a safety net. Unfortunately, on the web, there is no net.
Theron Bowers MD is a Texas psychiatrist.
“Last year a British man hanged himself on camera. His viewers also taunted and laughed at him until they noticed that he was turning blue.”
People in internet are often cruel and verbally sadistic. They can wreck your mind with their insults.
You should know how to pick friends in internet and stay away from those ‘bad virtual neighborhood’
I agree with you Margaret, nice point of view! Let’s instead instensify prayers for our darkened world to see the light during the Advent period. Cheers.
Margaret’s wonderfully sensitive and helpful letter should be read by thousands of people. Last night, on Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope, ABC 1, Australia, we saw family members interviewed about two suicides in a family living on a farm in the Kimberley region of WA: a father and one of his sons. It was obvious that both people were deeply loved, and equally obvious that neither of the suicides could express his pain.
World literature, if it is well taught, helps people of every age to handle deep feeling. In conjunction with sound religious formation, literary study educates hearts and minds simultaneously. Nothing on the Net can match the experience of literature, acquired through books and sound conversation. The Good Book is best, of course; but thousands of other poetic works echo Biblical truths.
Suicide is always a tragedy.Always a series of ‘what if...’questions.None of them very useful.Blaming the medium/location is no more helpful than blaming individuals.5 years ago my then 14 year old son threatened(twice in 3 days) to jump off upper level verandas at his very caring Catholic high school in front of dozens of fellow students. On each occasion he was pulled back by teachers who were providentially present.Would I have blamed his fellow students (some of whom I know believed he was only fooling) if he had fallen?I think not.
Not all friendships are in any real sense 3 dimensional.Many suicides involve people whose friends and family care very deeply about them.Some people hide their pain really well face to face and can only reveal it in the safety of anonymity.
Lets stop scapegoating and criticism and pray instead this Advent to be channels through which the Light of Christ comes into a darkened world.
A lot of suicides are deaths by misadventure, ie the suiciding person changes their mind while his act is in progress and there are no means available to him/her to get out of the situation. The help of by-standers, wittnesses or medical personnel is invaluable in all cases of attempted self harm. Perhaps this should be publicised and taught, or service providers could convey this information to chat room users. Something surely can be done to prevent copy-cat behaviour of the young, depressed and lost.
It’s really absurd that people in these chat rooms can joke about someone committing suicide and even go an extra mile to taunt him into carrying out the act! The solution is simple: to encourage everyone to use internet in public places and those in offices to use computers that can easily be glanced at! This is especially good to curb down Pornographic surfing! The parents should also keep tabs on whatever their kids are browsing.
Otherwise as Fr. Odhran says, May his soul rest in Eternal Peace.
Good on you, Theron Bowers, and numerous responders so far, especially Amy.
As Marshall MacLuhan famously stated, the medium is the message. The internet has a way of diminishing, if not even removing, the aspect of reality. This is probably the main reason behind the “callous” reaction to Abraham Biggs’s suicide.
I find it distressing that anyone could bear to watch a person, a fellow human being die without trying to help, especially when that death was preventable. The human life is not a toy, its not something to be played with or joked about. I think people ought to be reminded that “there is no replacement for human life” - that is a saying from western Nigeria. Our lives are affected by the lives of those we come in contact with, whether through the internet or physically and we should try to ensure that the memories of the contacts we’ve had with people are nice, positive ones or that we try to make the memories good, something we can objectively be proud of.
We, (readers and supporters of MercatorNet) should set up and monitor an emergency email address (something like phone “000") and advertise and publicise this emergency address asking watchers Worldwide to email in case they see or notice such an emergency.
The base would need to be manned 24/7. One base could be used to cover the whole World. An alarm could be somehow attached to the receiving computer and psychologists and psychiatrists would need to be trained to handle emergencies…
As one saintly priest has put it, internet provides 2D relationships rather than 3D ones. If you think about that at any length, you are sure to be spooked.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine on him.
Due to technology, teens (and adults also) have very fragmented relationships. There is no accountability for their actions. They are confused as how to live genuine friendships. Love is an emotional response without any follow through. Having worked in multimedia and studied user behaviour and the consequences it produces in real-life behavior, I think something needs to be done to help people to form committed relationships because certainly technology isn’t helping. However one noticeable factor is that people who do team sports seem to be able to foster healthier relationships. Sports demands commitment and perhaps if more young people were engaged in sports and stayed loyal to their team, they would perhaps learn a thing or two about how to form relationships. Just a thought!
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