Live suicide

With all the advancements in technologies and the increasing popularity in web cams, it was bound to happen one day.

Earlier this week in Florida, a teen killed himself while broadcasting live on justin.tv – a web-streaming program that allows viewers to share broadcasts and other live events.

What makes this story particularly sad is the fact that he announced his intentions to his viewers. Many of those watching did not take him seriously. Some even egged him on as he started taking the pills that would eventually lead to his death.

Then he fell to his bed and lay motionless for several hours. Still, many of the viewers didn’t believe he was dead. By the time someone informed the authorities, he had broadcast this tragic event for over 12 hours.

His family is, of course, stunned and grieving. The teen reportedly had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Unfortunately, this news isn’t too stunning. A lot of teens these days use sites like Facebook, MySpace, and now justin.tv to document and chronicle their lives. We’ve all heard of Internet predators using these sites to prey on young victims, and now this.

It’ll be interesting to see what the fall out of all this happens to be. I don’t think that there needs to be stricter rules in place. I just think that parents need to be more cognizant of what their kids are doing.

Hopefully, nobody tries to copycat this event.

That would truly be sad.

The Wizard has spoken.