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What we really need to do is better educate children about how to navigate social media, as well as social situations offline. However, Agatston adds that shutting down Ask.fm wouldn’t solve any problems, as other sites will pop up to take its place. “This would offer some protection for vulnerable youth since such sites typically allow users as young as 13.” A user would have to actively change their default preferences if he or she wishes to allow anonymous questioning,” she says. “Sites that offer the opportunity for anonymous queries should not be anonymous by default, but rather should allow questions and comments with identities shown by default. and co-author of Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age. Less anonymous trolling.Īt the very least, anonymity should not be the default, says Patti Agatston, Ph.D.
One, of course, is that the site could and should do more: more moderators, more reporting tools, more site-wide user bans.
There are two arguments that can be made regarding Ask.fm’s situation. But is Ask.fm at fault, and if so, to what extent? Two Schools Of Thought Our hearts break for these teens and their families, and in the wake of tragedies like this, humans have an instinctual need to place blame. Then her sister Shannon, who missed Erin deeply, also took her life in December 2012, extending that family’s personal tragedy.Įach news outlet retold these families’ personal devastations as cyberbullying cautionary tales, and Ask.fm as the enabler. 13-year old Erin Gallagher, who faced vicious bullying about her weight and looks, committed suicide the next month.
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In December, 16-year old Floridian Jessica Laney was found dead in her home after bullying on Ask.fm - one commenter had even asked “can you kill yourself already?” Others had called her “fat” and “a loser.” Fifteen-year-old Ciara Pugsley of Dromahair, Ireland, who played sports and loved her pony Basil, was taunted by anonymous posters on the site who called her “slut” and “ugly.” She took her own life in September 2012. 15-year old Canadian teen Amanda Todd committed suicide in October, after online and offline bullying, and blackmail over inappropriate photos. Sadly, Hannah’s suicide is one of many suicides linked to Ask.fm as a result of being bullied by other Ask.fm users - typically children whom the suicide victims know. The wildly popular service among teens (and those even younger who lie about their ages), is being blamed by the parents of 14-year old Hannah Smith who recently took her own life after receiving abusive messages from other users on the site: “drink bleach” “go get cancer” and “go die” among other things.
The latest example, and current Internet whipping boy, is Ask.fm. We need to think about: whether sites that ignore these problems can be sustainable businesses whether there are ways to do things differently and whether we could do more to help children left to wander throughout the web - and all its good and bad parts - quite so alone.Īsk.fm As The New MySpace: Getting Blamed For Teen Suicides We need to address this situation, but not with the goal of blaming the Internet or social media or individual outlets, or sometimes even the bullies who can often just be children, too, making mistakes of their own. This is relevant in a discussion about building companies that target young adults, especially if those sites are social media outlets where users are allowed to participate anonymously, share positive and negative feelings, react to posts made by others, and otherwise quickly publicize any idle thought that comes to mind.Īnd we need to have this discussion, calmly and rationally, because it’s clear social media websites play some role in pushing those susceptible to depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts to take desperate measures. Specifically, the part of the brain called the frontal lobe, which houses judgment, insight, dampening of emotions, and impulse control. The teenage brain is not fully developed, say scientists.
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