13 year old girl kills herself over online bullying??

woodoo · 28-10-2012 11:29PM #1

I came across this on facebook, there is a link to the story on http://www.independent.ie/national-news/online-bullying-claims-life-of-tragic-erin-13-3277171.html http://www.donegaldaily.com/2012/10/28/tragedy-as-13-year-old-dies-by-suicide-amidst-claims-of-on-line-bullying/

A 13 year old girl took her own life up in Donegal due to online bullying. This sort of thing seems to be getting more and more common. I don't know what can be done about it but its very worrying. 13 is so so young.

RIP Erin Gallagher.

Geekness1234 · 28-10-2012 11:31PM

woodoo wrote: »

I came across this on facebook, there is a link to the story on http://www.donegaldaily.com/2012/10/28/tragedy-as-13-year-old-dies-by-suicide-amidst-claims-of-on-line-bullying/

A 13 year old girl took her own life up in Donegal due to online bullying. This sort of thing seems to be getting more and more common. I don't know what can be done about it but its very worrying. 13 is so so young.

RIP Erin Gallagher.

That's horrific.

girl2 · 28-10-2012 11:33PM

Good God, there is terribly sad for these children and their families. And it seems to be becoming so prevalent lately.

God bless her

frozenfrozen · 28-10-2012 11:37PM

These stories always really upset me and bring me back to when Phoebe Prince suffered the same fate...
Condolences to her family and friends..

My name is URL · 28-10-2012 11:40PM

RIP to her regardless of what the cause was.

The media are too quick to sensationalise these stories. Aren't there some guidelines for the reporting of suicides?

Donegal Daily wrote:

Tragic Erin Gallagher

Why do newspapers do that? Of course it's tragic.. are people dumb enough that it needs to be pointed out in the opening sentence?

nbar12 · 28-10-2012 11:40PM

ah for the love of God I hate these stories. Poor girl and her family and friends. Seriously, when will action be taken to close down this askfm site? RIP beautiful angel

gozunda · 28-10-2012 11:41PM

girl2 wrote: »

Good God, there is terribly sad for these children and their families. And it seems to be becoming so prevalent lately.

God bless her

Until bullying behaviour is classified in this country under criminal legislation there is little or nothing that can be done with such cases of psychological abuse

The sooner this happens the better imo.

Skylinehead · 28-10-2012 11:41PM

woodoo wrote: »

I came across this on facebook, there is a link to the story on http://www.donegaldaily.com/2012/10/28/tragedy-as-13-year-old-dies-by-suicide-amidst-claims-of-on-line-bullying/

A 13 year old girl took her own life up in Donegal due to online bullying. This sort of thing seems to be getting more and more common. I don't know what can be done about it but its very worrying. 13 is so so young.

RIP Erin Gallagher.

And there's usually an underlying issue that's the root cause, not the bullying. But the media won't tell you that.

girl2 · 28-10-2012 11:48PM

Just had a look at that article and it mentions the site ask.fm (I haven't hot a clue what it is to be honest - but I see that a few of my teenage relatives on it on FB). Anyway, a lot of weeks ago one of my colleagues said that she had heard there was a lot of online bullying going on in that place. Anyone else hear that??

kevin12345 · 28-10-2012 11:53PM

girl2 wrote: »

Just had a look at that article and it mentions the site ask.fm (I haven't hot a clue what it is to be honest - but I see that a few of my teenage relatives on it on FB). Anyway, a lot of weeks ago one of my colleagues said that she had heard there was a lot of online bullying going on in that place. Anyone else hear that??

Yes, someone I'm friends with on fb just shared her link. An example of the abuse (she gets alot it seem) she gets would be this.

"your a ****ing weirdo all the makeup on ur face use a shovel take it off .. you look like a clown how can ***** stand sight of you ugly bitch"

There's worse...

Absolutely awful that people are given the anonymity to say horrible things such as the above.

Corkfeen · 28-10-2012 11:57PM

Skylinehead wrote: »

And there's usually an underlying issue that's the root cause, not the bullying. But the media won't tell you that.

That is utterly absurd to discount bullying as being a root cause for a suicide. In fact it can act as the root cause for many issues for the victim. Have you experienced bullying or can you backup your claim for bullying not acting as a key causative factor? If not(Granted the former is more to see if you have any chance of empathising with the victims), I feel obliged to call bull****.

af_thefragile · 28-10-2012 11:58PM

What's it with such stories becoming really common lately.
Its really sad for someone as young as 13yrs to be pushed this far.

What's wrong with kids these days. Can't they just be happy and accept people as friends any more? Everyone seems to be a lot more violent and abusive now...

moneymad · 29-10-2012 12:02AM

af_thefragile wrote: »

What's it with such stories becoming really common lately.
Its really sad for someone as young as 13yrs to be pushed this far.

What's wrong with kids these days. Can't they just be happy and accept people as friends any more? Everyone seems to be a lot more violent and abusive now...

The entertainment industry are doing a wonderful job. Pressuring young girls to be perfect. It's big money.

Richard tea · 29-10-2012 12:04AM

kevin12345 wrote: »

Yes, someone I'm friends with on fb just shared her link. An example of the abuse (she gets alot it seem) she gets would be this.

"your a ****ing weirdo all the makeup on ur face use a shovel take it off .. you look like a clown how can ***** stand sight of you ugly bitch"

There's worse...

Absolutely awful that people are given the anonymity to say horrible things such as the above.

Cop onto yourself and dont start this internet anonymity ****e. There is hardly a day goes by without someone trying to censor the internet. And using these bullying cases to achieve this is low.

NIMAN · 29-10-2012 12:06AM

Very sad. May she RIP.

Overheal · 29-10-2012 12:09AM

Richard tea wrote: »

Cop onto yourself and dont start this internet anonymity ****e. There is hardly a day goes by without someone trying to censor the internet. And using these bullying cases to achieve this is low.

Anonymity is censorship in it's own right.

kevin12345 · 29-10-2012 12:09AM

Richard tea wrote: »

Cop onto yourself and dont start this internet anonymity ****e. There is hardly a day goes by without someone trying to censor the internet. And using these bullying cases to achieve this is low.

Shutting down this ridiculous website is hardly censoring the f*cking internet. Already 3 girls have killed themselves over this particular website. Is that not reason enough to shut down the website?

af_thefragile · 29-10-2012 12:10AM

moneymad wrote: »

The entertainment industry are doing a wonderful job. Pressuring young girls to be perfect. It's big money.

It can't just be that.

When I was around 12-13, all my class mates were really cool and we would have lots of fun times. There were some kids who were the "bad kids" but even they never bullied anyone to the point of committing suicide.

Now kids seem to have been becoming a lot more vicious. Its like they don't know when to pull the line and don't hesitate pushing things as far as they can push it often to the point where the victim ends up committing suicide. There was always social and peer pressure among kids, although its probably more now because of the prevalence of media, cell phones and internet but its also something with kids who lack the understanding of where to pull lines and the conciousness that they may be destroying someone's life.

areyawell · 29-10-2012 12:10AM

13 is too young to be using social networking or even the internet to communicate with people in general. All computers should have key-loggers installed on them, and parents can then monitor what there children are doing but a lot of parents are not computer savvy. Unfortunatly with the way phones are now you can gain access to any sites on them so dont know what could be done there. Maybe keylogging on phones as well would help.

Richard tea · 29-10-2012 12:15AM

kevin12345 wrote: »

Shutting down this ridiculous website is hardly censoring the f*cking internet. Already 3 girls have killed themselves over this particular website. Is that not reason enough to shut down the website?

But where does it end. Shut down facebook twitter. Shut down schools? my issue was more to do with your anonymity comment rather than the web site.

woodoo · 29-10-2012 12:16AM

girl2 wrote: »

Just had a look at that article and it mentions the site ask.fm??

I'm the same i never heard of it. i tried to go into it but it seems you have to join up.

Sam Kade · 29-10-2012 12:18AM

Skylinehead wrote: »

And there's usually an underlying issue that's the root cause, not the bullying. But the media won't tell you that.

I agree, surely if someone is being bullied on an internet site all they need do is stop using that site.

themadchef · 29-10-2012 12:20AM

kevin12345 wrote: »

Yes, someone I'm friends with on fb just shared her link. An example of the abuse (she gets alot it seem) she gets would be this.

"your a ****ing weirdo all the makeup on ur face use a shovel take it off .. you look like a clown how can ***** stand sight of you ugly bitch"

There's worse...

Absolutely awful that people are given the anonymity to say horrible things such as the above.

My Good God, she was beautiful.

Why do these young people put themselves on there willingingly. Allowing these jealous, vicious, disgusting people tear them down like that.

Condolences to the family, it must be a very difficult time for the. Cant possibly imagine.

af_thefragile · 29-10-2012 12:20AM

Well kids shouldn't be on the internet in the first place and when they're on it, it needs to be for a very restricted and monitored time. Not until they're around 16yrs anyway.

You wouldn't leave your kid alone in front of the TV to watch and get influenced by whatever crap is on the TV then why would parent's leave their kids alone on the internet which is far more dangerous than the TV? Its mostly lazy parenting. Parent's who don't have enough time or commitment to look after their kids all the time. Its much easier just leaving the kid in front of the TV or in front of the computer so the parents can go away and do whatever they have to do while the kid is left to being looked after by the internet.

Forest Demon · 29-10-2012 12:21AM

I think the risks outweigh the benefits of social media for children / teenagers. There is no escape for some kids from this bullying. I have a girl approaching the teenage years. I don't let her have a phone and I am not letting her have a page on social media until I am sure she can handle it and only on the condition that I will also be monitoring her page. She may resent me for it in the future but I can live with that.

People can be so cruel and this can lead to the ultimate overreaction by a vulnerable teenager.

Fishooks12 · 29-10-2012 12:22AM

Awful tragedy.

I often question the suitability of these threads for AH's. It's nice to pay respects but there's always the inevitable troll who comes in and says something disgusting

girl2 · 29-10-2012 12:27AM

Forest Demon wrote: »

I think the risks outweigh the benefits of social media for children / teenagers. There is no escape for some kids from this bullying. I have a girl approaching the teenage years. I don't let he have a phone and I am not letting her have a page on social media until I am sure she can handle it and only on the condition that I will also be monitoring her page. She may resent me for it in the future but I can live with that.

People can be so cruel and this can lead to the ultimate overreaction by a vulnerable teenager.

I think you are totally right. We done some training at work - it was a safeguarding event and it was in relation to Facebook and the risks that kids are faced with online. I was really really shocked at it all to be honest - I thought I was Internet savvy, but I got some shock. Parents have no idea, sometimes, what their kids and at online and just how much access they have to these social media sites on their phones and the likes. So, in totally with you on what you're doing - it's a pity a more parents weren't the same.

storker · 29-10-2012 12:31AM

Personally, I'd have no problem with the death penalty for those vicious scumbags. The world doesn't need them. They serve no useful purpose.

On a more realistic level, however, I think some form of manslaughter charge wouldn't be inappropriate. Assuming, of course, that their identities can be traced.

Stork

K-9 · 29-10-2012 12:33AM

Richard tea wrote: »

Cop onto yourself and dont start this internet anonymity ****e. There is hardly a day goes by without someone trying to censor the internet. And using these bullying cases to achieve this is low.

In fairness its a pretty low standard of argument to support freedom on the net.

kevin12345 wrote: »

Shutting down this ridiculous website is hardly censoring the f*cking internet. Already 3 girls have killed themselves over this particular website. Is that not reason enough to shut down the website?

I thought it was some type of music sharing site, I assume there are ways to make the account private and limit it to just people you know.

Geekness1234 · 29-10-2012 12:35AM

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Awful tragedy.

I often question the suitability of these threads for AH's. It's nice to pay respects but there's always the inevitable troll who comes in and says something disgusting

But that's the case with every thread on every site like boards.

moneymad · 29-10-2012 12:37AM

af_thefragile wrote: »

It can't just be that.

When I was around 12-13, all my class mates were really cool and we would have lots of fun times. There were some kids who were the "bad kids" but even they never bullied anyone to the point of committing suicide.

Now kids seem to have been becoming a lot more vicious. Its like they don't know when to pull the line and don't hesitate pushing things as far as they can push it often to the point where the victim ends up committing suicide. There was always social and peer pressure among kids, although its probably more now because of the prevalence of media, cell phones and internet but its also something with kids who lack the understanding of where to pull lines and the conciousness that they may be destroying someone's life.

It's part of it.
But mostly i think it is the availability and ease at which you can contact someone now. They're more vicious because they can be. It's easy.

13 year old girl kills herself over online bullying??

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