2008 Woodie Awards
Cyber-suicide tragic, senseless
Tiffany Gibson
Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: Opinions
On Oct. 16 2006, Megan Meier committed suicide due to a cruel MySpace hoax created by her best friend and her best friend's mother. Over a year later, charges have yet to be served to the harassing family.
Meier was only 13 years old when she committed suicide by hanging herself in her own bathroom. Apparently, Meier had previously had a falling out with her former 16 year-old best friend. After the two distanced themselves from each other, the girls' petty argument soon erupted into a revengeful plot that would ultimately leave one teen dead and the other party unharmed.
When Meier's best friend's mother soon found out about the girls' conflict, she cooked up a vicious scheme as a way of teaching Meier a lesson. The idea was formed by both mother and daughter that it would be 'fun' to create a fake profile on the popular Web site, MySpace, and trick Meier into falling for an online love interest. The mother and daughter worked diligently on their revengeful plot by creating a boy named Josh Evans.
Over time Meier and Evans conversed daily and Meier actually began to fall for Evans. Meanwhile, Meier's mother was aware of the online love interest and the fact that her daughter had a profile on a Web site that only permitted registration to ages 16 and up. Even though all of the signs were right in front of her face, she refused to take control of the situation and restrict her daughter from coming in contact with a complete stranger.
Mrs. Meier should have never allowed her daughter to even create a profile in the first place. Even though these sites are socially accepted and a 'popular' thing to have, they should still only be available for those of the legal age requirement. Teens similar to Meier create profiles every day and carelessly give out information regarding their phone numbers or locations. These young girls and boys that are lying in order to reserve ridiculous artificial pixel pages in exchange for their lives are not mature enough to handle certain situations they may be getting themselves into.
Pursuing this further, the mother and daughter team behind Evans' existence felt they had earned Meier's trust and decided it was time to crush Meier by sending her hurtful messages claiming she was a 'slut' and 'fat'. Meier finally snapped after reading these messages and decided to retaliate. When her mother returned home one day she noticed her daughter's vulgar language in messages to Evans on the computer screen. When confronted by this, Meier tried to explain the situation, but her mother had no sympathy and displayed her disappointment in her daughter. In a rage, Meier stomped off to her bathroom where she immediately hanged herself.
Authorities are currently still investigating this case, but openly admit that the guilty party responsible for this young girl's death cannot legally be touched, since there is no law stating that creating a phony profile is illegal. In fact millions of people own a MySpace or Facebook profile, so the probability of this happening to another teen is extremely vast.
The worst part of this case appears to be the desperate need for justice. The mother and daughter that plotted this scheme should be charged for harassment and booked at the nearest courthouse due to their extreme measures in what began as a simple teenage quarrel. There is no excuse for the behavior both of the participants displayed during the six weeks they continued to lead the young girl on.
Due to several tragedies such as Meier's case, many people have begun to question whether or not these online personal profile sites are strictly used for pleasure or for deception.
According to research done by Cox Communications in 2006, parental awareness of their teens' online activities has risen significantly in the last year. Cox also discovered that teens whose parents have talked to them a great deal about online safety are less likely to consider meeting in person someone they met on the internet.
Meier's mother knew of the love affair occurring online and should not have let her 13 year old daughter continue it. Even worse than the fact that a squabble spiraled out of control, both mothering parties failed miserably in their attempt at setting good examples for their daughters. While one mother prolonged the warning signs, the other party displayed a malevolent characteristic that will most likely be portrayed by her daughter in future years.
When it comes to internet harassment, MySpace, Facebook and Xanga are commonly known as sites that allow easy access for online bullies. However, there is a way to reduce the amount of teens harassed online, and this method can be summed up in one simple action: supervise!
Tiffany Gibson is a freshman English major and can be reached at tdg2w@mtsu.edu.
Meier was only 13 years old when she committed suicide by hanging herself in her own bathroom. Apparently, Meier had previously had a falling out with her former 16 year-old best friend. After the two distanced themselves from each other, the girls' petty argument soon erupted into a revengeful plot that would ultimately leave one teen dead and the other party unharmed.
When Meier's best friend's mother soon found out about the girls' conflict, she cooked up a vicious scheme as a way of teaching Meier a lesson. The idea was formed by both mother and daughter that it would be 'fun' to create a fake profile on the popular Web site, MySpace, and trick Meier into falling for an online love interest. The mother and daughter worked diligently on their revengeful plot by creating a boy named Josh Evans.
Over time Meier and Evans conversed daily and Meier actually began to fall for Evans. Meanwhile, Meier's mother was aware of the online love interest and the fact that her daughter had a profile on a Web site that only permitted registration to ages 16 and up. Even though all of the signs were right in front of her face, she refused to take control of the situation and restrict her daughter from coming in contact with a complete stranger.
Mrs. Meier should have never allowed her daughter to even create a profile in the first place. Even though these sites are socially accepted and a 'popular' thing to have, they should still only be available for those of the legal age requirement. Teens similar to Meier create profiles every day and carelessly give out information regarding their phone numbers or locations. These young girls and boys that are lying in order to reserve ridiculous artificial pixel pages in exchange for their lives are not mature enough to handle certain situations they may be getting themselves into.
Pursuing this further, the mother and daughter team behind Evans' existence felt they had earned Meier's trust and decided it was time to crush Meier by sending her hurtful messages claiming she was a 'slut' and 'fat'. Meier finally snapped after reading these messages and decided to retaliate. When her mother returned home one day she noticed her daughter's vulgar language in messages to Evans on the computer screen. When confronted by this, Meier tried to explain the situation, but her mother had no sympathy and displayed her disappointment in her daughter. In a rage, Meier stomped off to her bathroom where she immediately hanged herself.
Authorities are currently still investigating this case, but openly admit that the guilty party responsible for this young girl's death cannot legally be touched, since there is no law stating that creating a phony profile is illegal. In fact millions of people own a MySpace or Facebook profile, so the probability of this happening to another teen is extremely vast.
The worst part of this case appears to be the desperate need for justice. The mother and daughter that plotted this scheme should be charged for harassment and booked at the nearest courthouse due to their extreme measures in what began as a simple teenage quarrel. There is no excuse for the behavior both of the participants displayed during the six weeks they continued to lead the young girl on.
Due to several tragedies such as Meier's case, many people have begun to question whether or not these online personal profile sites are strictly used for pleasure or for deception.
According to research done by Cox Communications in 2006, parental awareness of their teens' online activities has risen significantly in the last year. Cox also discovered that teens whose parents have talked to them a great deal about online safety are less likely to consider meeting in person someone they met on the internet.
Meier's mother knew of the love affair occurring online and should not have let her 13 year old daughter continue it. Even worse than the fact that a squabble spiraled out of control, both mothering parties failed miserably in their attempt at setting good examples for their daughters. While one mother prolonged the warning signs, the other party displayed a malevolent characteristic that will most likely be portrayed by her daughter in future years.
When it comes to internet harassment, MySpace, Facebook and Xanga are commonly known as sites that allow easy access for online bullies. However, there is a way to reduce the amount of teens harassed online, and this method can be summed up in one simple action: supervise!
Tiffany Gibson is a freshman English major and can be reached at tdg2w@mtsu.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 2
Hunter Barry
posted 11/29/07 @ 9:48 AM CST
You know when a great time for this article would've been? Last year, when it was news.
Post a Comment