Mother 'Tweets' as Son Dies

Feeky Magee

Shellie Ross sent out a message on Twitter asking her followers "please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool" as paramedics tried to revive her son Bryson after he was found floating face down in a swimming pool. Five hours later, when her son was pronounced dead, she went back on to the Twitter site to update her 5,000 followers, posting "Remembering my million dollar baby".

Moments later, she posted a photo of her son on the site, but her use of Twitter as her son lay dying has provoked outrage among the blogging community in the US.
Police in Florida said they were aware of the 'tweets' and would be looking into them as part of their investigation into the drowning.

Many were shocked that she chose to use the social networking site to reveal something so deeply personal. "The first thing I thought when I saw the tweet was that it was very sad," said online poster Madison McGraw. "But then I thought, 'Who would tweet that her son just drowned?' I couldn't believe it."

Mrs Ross, who is married to a US airman and used the tweet name of "Military-Mom", sent out a message at 5.22pm on Monday which read:"Fog is rolling in thick scared the birds back in the coop."She and her 11-year-old son had been cleaning out a chicken coup while Bryson played in the garden.

A minute later police in Mirrett Island, Florida, said they received an emergency call from Mrs Ross's 11-year-old son saying that his brother was floating unconscious in their pool.

Police spokesman Lt Bruce Barnett said Mrs Ross had asked her older son to turn off a hose inside the pool enclosure but the gate behind him did not close properly.
"When Ross finished cleaning she went inside and was looking for the two-year-old, who she thought was with her 11-year-old, and wasn't able to find him and started to panic," he said. "That's when she found him floating."

Lt Barnett said Mrs Ross said her son was in the water for "maybe five minutes" and performed CPR on her son before paramedics arrived.

Mrs Ross defended her use of Twitter. "Nobody has a right to question" why she tweeted, she said, adding: "I didn't tweet-by-tweet the accident." The messages and photos were later removed from the website and Mrs Ross has now made her Twitter account private.

Maybe if she spent less time on Twitter and more time looking after her son, this would never have happened? I just don't understand how it could possibly go through someone's head when their child's life is in the balance; "Oh I'll just update my Twitter."

Sad reflection of the person, or of online obsession, or understandable reaction?

Jako8

*sighs*


This is just another example of the evil of twitter.

AlmightyCushion

After something like that I probably wouldn't be able to talk let alone bloody tweet about it.

mink_man

DILLIGAF (google it)

HAHAHHAA FEEKY MCGEE...FUNNY MAN

Saibh

Feeky Magee wrote: »

Maybe if she spent less time on Twitter and more time looking after her son, this would never have happened? I just don't understand how it could possibly go through someone's head when their child's life is in the balance; "Oh I'll just update my Twitter."

Sad reflection of the person, or of online obsession, or understandable reaction?

She seemed more interested in updating her twitter account than mourning for the loss of her son - sad tbh.

partyatmygaff

Maybe it was a need to tell someone. Maybe not the best of ideas. Its kind of like she called a friend/family e.t.c. to tell them.

Sharpshooter

Christ!

How could she do that?

jhegarty

Feeky Magee wrote: »

Maybe if she spent less time on Twitter and more time looking after her son, this would never have happened? I just don't understand how it could possibly go through someone's head when their child's life is in the balance; "Oh I'll just update my Twitter."

Sad reflection of the person, or of online obsession, or understandable reaction?

Perhaps she had no friends / family to support her.

Silverfish

Well, her first tweet was before she knew he'd fallen in the pool, and her next tweet was 5 hours after he'd died, and people do weird things in times of stress and grief.

Oh wait, I read it wrong. People do strange things in times of stress and grief, but updating twitter while paramedics work on your child is a bit of a crazy stretch. While it might have been a beseeching of support, it just looks wildly inappropriate.

Morlar

jhegarty wrote: »

Perhaps she had no friends / family to support her.

Boo. Hoo. **** her the stupid ****, anyone who would even contemplate updating a ****ing social network while attempts were being made to revive her child is beyond unfit as a parent.

WindSock

She was reaching out to the wider community to pray for her son while the paramedics were working on him. She was probably getting in the way otherwise. It's not like it takes a long time to type a sentance...

aDeener

silly fuckin bitch

TamNaz

Or maybe she thought she would have a good portion of her '5,000 followers' praying for him.

I hate Twitter..ers but maybe it was something a bit less mindlessly rotten than it appears.

Feeky Magee

Silverfish wrote: »

Well, her first tweet was before she knew he'd fallen in the pool, and her next tweet was 5 hours after he'd died, and people do weird things in times of stress and grief.

No, she tweeted 1 minute before he fell in the pool, and then after she found him, letting her followers know he'd fallen in. Then, 5 hours later, she tweeted that he'd died.

Sharpshooter

Silverfish wrote: »

Well, her first tweet was before she knew he'd fallen in the pool, and her next tweet was 5 hours after he'd died, and people do weird things in times of stress and grief.

I can't think of anyone I know with children that would even remember they were a member of a social site if that were to happen to them.

Silverfish

Feeky Magee wrote: »

No, she tweeted 1 minute before he fell in the pool, and then after she found him, letting her followers know he'd fallen in. Then, 5 hours later, she tweeted that he'd died.

Yeah, I covered that.

jd007

I blame twitter

Morlar

WindSock wrote: »

She was reaching out to the wider community to pray for her son while the paramedics were working on him. She was probably getting in the way otherwise. It's not like it takes a long time to type a sentance...

Can you imagine any parent doing that on boards ?

'Hey evwybody just found my 2 yr old face down in the bath brb'

That is some kind of sick twisted attention seeking mental degeneracy going on there.

smellslikeshoes

I don't see much of a problem here to be honest, yea it's weird that she tweeted so soon but everyone deals with these sort of situations in their own way and maybe she just needed to tell someone and maybe get some support from friends/family on twitter. It's not like she was on twitter while she knew her son was in the pool or anything.

Saibh

Morlar wrote: »

Can you imagine any parent doing that on boards ?

'Hey evwybody just found my 2 yr old face down in the bath brb'

That is some kind of sick twisted attention seeking mental degeneracy going on there.

They would be outright war on boards if someone did that. I know it would be last thing I would be thinking about is posting anything on the internet.

Feeky Magee

Morlar wrote: »

Can you imagine any parent doing that on boards ?

'Hey evwybody just found my 2 yr old face down in the bath brb'

That is some kind of sick twisted attention seeking mental degeneracy going on there.

Nail on head.

jumpguy

A serious case of "Twitter Syndrome"?

We see it alot these days, people going out at nights with the main accessory being the digital camera, taking more photos than trying to enjoy themselves so they can put it on Facebook the next day so everyone will think of what a great night they had and how exciting it was. Well, in this case, updating Twitter to get abit of publicity, people will know. I mean, you can say "pray for my son" when he's in hospital in grave condition or dead, but when you should be saving his life...

The Express

I know F*uck all about twitter. Not a jot.

But if the bitch was expecting a screen full of 'Thanks' she can f*uckin' burn in hell for eternity.

What a downright waste of the gift of motherhood.

WindSock

Morlar wrote: »

Can you imagine any parent doing that on boards ?

'Hey evwybody just found my 2 yr old face down in the bath brb'

That is some kind of sick twisted attention seeking mental degeneracy going on there.

What does a parent normally do while their child is being resuscitated? Jump up and down while pulling thier hair out?
She panicked. The computer was on. She wanted help and support.

Silverfish

WindSock wrote: »

What does a parent normally do while their child is being resuscitated? Jump up and down while pulling thier hair out?
She panicked. The computer was on. She wanted help and support.

Actually, since she was out cleaning a chicken coop while it happened, it looked like she was using her mobile. I can tweet from mine just like sending a text. Not defending it, just saying.

WindSock

Yeah but. She tried to revive him. It's not like she let him stay there dying until the paramedics arrived while she texted to her twitter page.

performed CPR on her son before paramedics arrived

She twitted while the medics were there. What else could she do?

BluesBerry

Nobody knows how they would react in a situation like that everyone reacts differently she was probably in a state of shock she had witnessed her son lying face down in a pool she was probably walking around in a haze didnt know what to do

My prayers are with that woman god love her:(

Feeky Magee

WindSock wrote: »

Yeah but. She tried to revive him. It's not like she let him stay there dying until the paramedics arrived while she texted to her twitter page.



She twitted while the medics were there. What else could she do?

I would have thought the natural reaction when faced with losing your child would to be absolutely beside yourself with fear, and not having the composure to load up a site with a 100 character limit to let ,essentially, a bunch of strangers know her kid was dying.

ferg2020

Poor child. Don't know the whole story but it doesn't sound good for the mother.

Sharpshooter

WindSock wrote: »

She was reaching out to the wider community to pray for her son while the paramedics were working on him. She was probably getting in the way otherwise. It's not like it takes a long time to type a sentance...

WindSock wrote: »

What does a parent normally do while their child is being resuscitated? Jump up and down while pulling thier hair out?
She panicked. The computer was on. She wanted help and support.

WindSock wrote: »

Yeah but. She tried to revive him. It's not like she let him stay there dying until the paramedics arrived while she texted to her twitter page.



She twitted while the medics were there. What else could she do?

No More.

The Express

Sharpshooter wrote: »

No More.

In all fairness, you have a point. Good post.

kumate_champ07

she went online for a few seconds and asked people to pray for her dying son, religion is strange, some people think that they can talk to a man in the sky and he'll help them with things. she obviously thought that if 5000people do that same thing that her son might have a good chance of being saved. theres nothing crazy or selfish about that(well actually religion is a bit crazy, but it seems to be the acceptable kind of crazy)

ferg2020

This is seemingly more an argument about whether the mother was wrong to twitter during the tragedy of losing a child than the fact that she mustn't have been supervising her child very well, to state a fact. Of course many incidents happen where children have been killed by lack of supervision or by simply a parent not assessing the risk of the child getting injured as serious, which is a something that happens often on Farms and the like. It was the way she reacted to it that is shocking.
She was adding to the culture of fly on the wall to an extreme. Not really sure about Twitter but don't see how someone would have the presence of mind to twit while there child was dying. Think it would be the last thing on most peoples minds. You would want to tell people what had happen, but it would be friends and family, not people who follow you on some website.

psycho8itch

I find this sick and repulsive.

tech77

This "attention seeking"/look at my life thing.
It's a cliche, but in the last decade in particular, this has become more and more disturbing.
Everyone has to be a mini-celebrity.
I'd love to understand the real psychology behind it.
Mind-boggling.

koHd

She obviously tweets about everything. And has done for a long time. Maybe me and you wouldn't even remember we have a twitter account, but if she has the mobile there with her and she does it every couple of minutes I can see why she did it. She asked people to pray put of hope. She just lost her son for ****s sake. Would you give out as much **** for a shaking parent addicted to smoking, that lit up a cigerette, as her sons life was in the balance? We can question why a 2 year old was out and about by himself without supervision, especially near a pool. But do we have the full facts on this? But to get so annoyed about her tapping a few letters in her phone for support/comfort is stupid.

RoyalMarine

i dont have a twitter page.

ferg2020

koHd wrote: »

She obviously tweets about everything. And has done for a long time. Maybe me and you wouldn't even remember we have a twitter account, but if she has he mobile there with her and she does it every couple of minites I can see why she did it. She asked people to pray put of hope. She just lost her son for ****s sake. Would you give out as much **** for a shaking parent addicted to smoking, that lit up a cigerette, as her sons life was in the balance? We can question why a 2 year old was out and about by himself without supervision, especially near a pool. But do we have the full facts on this? But to get so annoyed about her tapping a few letters in her phone for support/comfort is stupid.

One persons sane is another persons crazy. I guess its not as if she's going to be charged for texting while her son was dying. You've a point that just because we wouldn't do it means we can judge her. Maybe twitter is as you pointed out with the analogy of smoking, her addiction.

HashSlinging

I know someone who sent an email stating someone from their immediate family had very suddenly died, they couldnt speak through the shock so they typed it and sent it through email.

koHd

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

i dont have a twitter page.

You're safe from the Iranians so. Good job.

Midnight_EG

The Express wrote: »

But if the bitch was expecting a screen full of 'Thanks' she can f*uckin' burn in hell for eternity.

The internet doesn't revolve around thanks you know

mayordenis

Nobody (or at least most thankfully) know what goes through someones head when they lose a child at that age,
to condemn her for this is stupid wankery.

jill_valentine

A few points -

1) Twitter is a way of contacting a lot of people in a split second. A split second - that's the point. People have, famously, managed to tweet while being arrested and there is at least one user confirmed to be tweeting from prison.

You don't need to load up a computer screen to use it, and once you're used to it, it doesn't cost you a thought to do so. It's just an integrated part of your lifestyle.

2) Many people use it to keep in touch with "real life" friends and family, as well as other posters. It's very effective for keeping a lot of people informed, easily, in real time.

3) She couldn't do anything else to help her son at the point when she sent the message. The paramedics were already at work.

So where's the harm? It seems weird, but just because she didn't panic in the way you or I might doesn't make her sick, or a psychopath. I don't see why using Twitter to inform people of a crisis is any more callous than using any other communicative medium.

Barname

I suggest we set Danny Foley on her

pablomakaveli

Barname wrote: »

I suggest we set Danny Foley on her

Theres no point. I bet the lads in Listowel are on her side anyway.

WindSock

Sharpshooter wrote: »

No More.

Huh? I'm giving my opinion like everyone else on this thread. Just because I don't agree with yours doesn't mean I am trolling.

HashSlinging wrote: »

I know someone who sent an email stating someone from their immediate family had very suddenly died, they couldnt speak through the shock so they typed it and sent it through email.

Exactly. Has anyone ever been in the position where they have to say to people that a loved one has died? To hear the words coming out of your mouth is extremely difficult.
Everyone deals with grief in their own way. If someone told me how I 'should' be grieving, expect a kick in the face.

old_aussie

she was probably on the twit wit site when she should have been supervising him in the pool

stovelid

Thankfully, I assume that not a single one of us actually knows what goes through your mind when this happens.

It seems mawkish to me but the woman (obviously) could have been crazed at that minute and there was nobody there to talk to.

old_aussie wrote: »

she was probably on the twit wit site when she should have been supervising him in the pool

You should consider using your powers of omniscience for the good of human race.

MagicMarker

I feel sorry for the 11 year old who didn't close the gate behind him.

Big Nasty

Twit

loreanatus

There is a line that has been drawn and crossed. This is a truely tragic event that happened and I'm really sorry for that family loss. They are suffering the bitter sorrow left by a death and will have to endure a future of thousands of moments of self-blaming, guilty, and painful memories. But why do the public have to come into this family tragedy?

Why is this 'news'? For the media to point and say 'look what this parent did' to the ever-consuming mob? The powers-that-be decided that in that in her stricken state when tweeting, that mother is waiving her right to privacy, that line is not crossed, and then go publish this story ???!

Is the publics 'right to know' greater than the familys real need to grieve, whether its happening quietly or loudly, in peace or in public? What about social responsibility?

I expect that we can show greater respect, and step back.