<p>Suicide is always a complex issue with many factors combining to put a person in a position whereby they feel that they have no alternative.</p>

<p>It is dangerous to simplify this and say "she killed herself because she was being bullied online" because the majority of young people who are affected so severely by online bullying have underlying vulnerabilities which make the effect of the bullying worse. For example, Megan Meier, who committed suicide in 2006 following MySpace bullying and humiliation, was already an incredibly vulnerable young person who had been on medication for depression for some time before she died.</p>

<p>To answer your specific questions:</p>

<p><strong>Why do teenagers take the Internet so seriously?</strong> Because young people do not differentiate between what is the Internet and what is real life. To them, the Internet IS real life. Popularity is no longer measured by the number of friends you have in the playground or whether you hang out with the 'cool' kids, but by how many facebook friends you have, how many likes your latest status got, how many 'kiks' you have and how many people ask you questions on Ask.fm.</p>

<p><strong>Is it because they are attached too much to the internet?</strong> No, it's because the Internet is an integral part of their lives.</p>

<p><strong>Are they trying to escape real life by building virtual worlds?</strong> They may be looking to 'fill a gap' in their offline life by building up a large number of 'virtual' friends to share their secrets with in an anonymous environment where they are judged only by their number of friends, not by looks or social status.</p>

<p><strong>Is there any study research on this?</strong> Lots! Forget academia, look at media literacy surveys and interviews with kids about their social media lives including this one by McAfee: <a href="http://promos.mcafee.com/en-US/PDF/lives_of_teens.pdf">http://promos.mcafee.com/en-US/PDF/lives_of_teens.pdf</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-02T11:44:02.620Z
2013-09-02T11:44:02.620Z
Charles Conway
<p>Actually it's an easy and hard question at the same time. </p>

<p>The easy answer is that her brain failed when compared with the standard brain model we take as a model (brain of a conscious normal teenager).</p>

<p>The hard part is which parts of the brain made the "wrong" (not expected decision be our society and most people in her age) thing and she commits a suicide.</p>

<p>I would guess she had some problem with her limbic system (love, emotional stuff), maybe some malfunction or wrongs conformation of neuropathways in that area etc. </p>

<p>Who knows? </p>

<p>Maybe some chemicals like contraception pills or some drugs were involved. But I don't think it was casued by this in her case.</p>

<p>I wouldn't blame parents or friends in this case. E.g. I had a friend, a girl, who was very well educated and intelligent, good parents, very pretty and popular. 4 years ago she hang her-self. It was like a nightmare. Nobody would expect that and still she killed herself.</p>

<p>Why? Brain malfunction. Which part of the brain? Probably impossible to tell with our current understanding of the brain.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-08T17:38:18.247Z
2013-08-08T17:38:18.247Z
Derfder
<p><strong>Background:</strong> I saw this post on the daily Mirror: <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/schoolgirl-14-hangs-herself-after-2128742">A girl committed suicide because some users bullied her on ask.fm</a>. I signed up to see what that site is, and it was some Q&amp;A site. So she committed suicide just because someone bullied her, someone she doesn't know, maybe a bot! 
That article said that many other teens did the same.  </p>

<p>I'm broadly interested in why do teens in particular take the internet so seriously.
As <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry_Turkle">Sherry Turkle</a> said, <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=3&amp;cad=rja&amp;ved=0CEwQtwIwAg&amp;url=http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html&amp;ei=YlMCUoLWDtSXhQett4H4CQ&amp;usg=AFQjCNFd1KHSR5vuiuUOk7bbyxNp1Z26cQ&amp;sig2=VtrLOVUZspPP7yzcDHf3Zw">we're connected but alone</a>. And she said that <a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.04/turkle.html">the internet is all about sex, lies and avatars</a>.</p>

<h3>Questions</h3>

<ul>
<li><strong>Why do teenagers take the Internet so seriously?</strong></li>
<li><strong>Is it because they are attached too much to the internet?</strong></li>
<li><strong>Are they trying to escape real life by building virtual worlds?</strong></li>
<li><strong>Is there any study research on this?</strong></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-07T14:13:04.247Z
I removed a bit of the editorializing from the question, as I think it detracted from what you were trying to ask.
Chuck Sherrington
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-07T16:36:40.823Z
@Skippy i think you meant `@Fischer`, if you're asking me, you can answer with links or without links :)
Lynob
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-07T17:03:32.993Z
@Skpippy I'm not Fischer, either;-) But in general I would say that it's not so much about links, but rather about a reference. But maybe that's what you meant, anyway. In this case, never mind!
Jens Kouros
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-07T17:19:52.820Z
In my opinion the title of the question is not realy the same as what u question there. Real vs virtual lives are a huge matter wich the reason is most of the times because they feel their real life is a crap and they tend to imerge into a virtual one where they feel much better. It may have nothing to be with mental disturbs like those who fall for bullying so easy mostly have.
Enoque Duarte
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-07T19:38:58.927Z
@Skippy References are always preferred, but what you did was fine, I think.
Chuck Sherrington
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-08T00:14:44.827Z
attempted to link question title with question body
Jeromy Anglim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-04T13:47:04.120Z
Cyberbullying is just as serious as traditional bullying, often worse (since cyberbullying can be done constantly to anyone who is connected to the internet, traditional bullying takes a bit more effort and usually requires two or more people to be in the same place at the same time to take place) so why would they or anyone else NOT take cyber bullying seriously? It has the same severe mental effects on the victim as any other form of bullying.

That said, what do you mean by taking the internet seriously? Do you mean online arguments? Adults take these seriously too more often than not.
Cestarian
<social-psychology><internet><social-networks>
Why do teenagers take the internet and cyberbullying so seriously?
Lynob
# Why do teenagers take the internet and cyberbullying so seriously?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-08-07)

**Background:** I saw this post on the daily Mirror: [A girl committed suicide because some users bullied her on ask.fm](http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/schoolgirl-14-hangs-herself-after-2128742). I signed up to see what that site is, and it was some Q&A site. So she committed suicide just because someone bullied her, someone she doesn't know, maybe a bot!
That article said that many other teens did the same.

I'm broadly interested in why do teens in particular take the internet so seriously.
As [Sherry Turkle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherry_Turkle) said, [we're connected but alone](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CEwQtwIwAg&url=http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html&ei=YlMCUoLWDtSXhQett4H4CQ&usg=AFQjCNFd1KHSR5vuiuUOk7bbyxNp1Z26cQ&sig2=VtrLOVUZspPP7yzcDHf3Zw). And she said that [the internet is all about sex, lies and avatars](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.04/turkle.html).

### Questions

* **Why do teenagers take the Internet so seriously?**
* **Is it because they are attached too much to the internet?**
* **Are they trying to escape real life by building virtual worlds?**
* **Is there any study research on this?**

**Tags:** social-psychology, internet, social-networks

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I removed a bit of the editorializing from the question, as I think it detracted from what you were trying to ask.  
> **username_0**: @Skippy i think you meant `@Fischer`, if you're asking me, you can answer with links or without links :)  
> **username_2**: @Skpippy I'm not Fischer, either;-) But in general I would say that it's not so much about links, but rather about a reference. But maybe that's what you meant, anyway. In this case, never mind!  
> **username_3**: In my opinion the title of the question is not realy the same as what u question there. Real vs virtual lives are a huge matter wich the reason is most of the times because they feel their real life is a crap and they tend to imerge into a virtual one where they feel much better. It may have nothing to be with mental disturbs like those who fall for bullying so easy mostly have.  
> **username_1**: @Skippy References are always preferred, but what you did was fine, I think.  
> **username_4**: attempted to link question title with question body  
> **username_5**: Cyberbullying is just as serious as traditional bullying, often worse (since cyberbullying can be done constantly to anyone who is connected to the internet, traditional bullying takes a bit more effort and usually requires two or more people to be in the same place at the same time to take place) so why would they or anyone else NOT take cyber bullying seriously? It has the same severe mental effects on the victim as any other form of bullying.  That said, what do you mean by taking the internet seriously? Do you mean online arguments? Adults take these seriously too more often than not.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2013-09-02. Score: 6

Suicide is always a complex issue with many factors combining to put a person in a position whereby they feel that they have no alternative.

It is dangerous to simplify this and say "she killed herself because she was being bullied online" because the majority of young people who are affected so severely by online bullying have underlying vulnerabilities which make the effect of the bullying worse. For example, Megan Meier, who committed suicide in 2006 following MySpace bullying and humiliation, was already an incredibly vulnerable young person who had been on medication for depression for some time before she died.

To answer your specific questions:

**Why do teenagers take the Internet so seriously?** Because young people do not differentiate between what is the Internet and what is real life. To them, the Internet IS real life. Popularity is no longer measured by the number of friends you have in the playground or whether you hang out with the 'cool' kids, but by how many facebook friends you have, how many likes your latest status got, how many 'kiks' you have and how many people ask you questions on Ask.fm.

**Is it because they are attached too much to the internet?** No, it's because the Internet is an integral part of their lives.

**Are they trying to escape real life by building virtual worlds?** They may be looking to 'fill a gap' in their offline life by building up a large number of 'virtual' friends to share their secrets with in an anonymous environment where they are judged only by their number of friends, not by looks or social status.

**Is there any study research on this?** Lots! Forget academia, look at media literacy surveys and interviews with kids about their social media lives including this one by McAfee: <http://promos.mcafee.com/en-US/PDF/lives_of_teens.pdf>


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### Answer by username_7 on 2013-08-08. Score: 3

Actually it's an easy and hard question at the same time.

The easy answer is that her brain failed when compared with the standard brain model we take as a model (brain of a conscious normal teenager).

The hard part is which parts of the brain made the "wrong" (not expected decision be our society and most people in her age) thing and she commits a suicide.

I would guess she had some problem with her limbic system (love, emotional stuff), maybe some malfunction or wrongs conformation of neuropathways in that area etc.

Who knows?

Maybe some chemicals like contraception pills or some drugs were involved. But I don't think it was casued by this in her case.

I wouldn't blame parents or friends in this case. E.g. I had a friend, a girl, who was very well educated and intelligent, good parents, very pretty and popular. 4 years ago she hang her-self. It was like a nightmare. Nobody would expect that and still she killed herself.

Why? Brain malfunction. Which part of the brain? Probably impossible to tell with our current understanding of the brain.


---

