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[Valkerionseven]

Why do kids that young have social networking accounts in the first place is a question that always pops into my head. They are in the late years of elementary and early junior high.

 

[SyenceLabb]

There should be a law against motivating suicide especially if there is proof.

Terrible idea.

 

[brianjones]

having the mental capacity for suicide at such a young age is really disturbing to me

 

[DrBo42]

It sounds more like he was maliciously deceived than just "being told to do something"

Yeah. It's a malicious pre-meditated act on the part of multiple people or maybe simply classified as a conspiracy to get this boy to believe this. Maybe him harming himself wasn't the intent but emotional and mental distress was.

 

[Maxinas]

having the mental capacity for suicide at such a young age is really disturbing to me

This. I only remember ever caring about pokemon, and yugioh at that age. Sweet innocent youth is only being corrupted at a faster rate nowadays.

 

[Bounceounce]

This. I only remember ever caring about pokemon, and yugioh at that age. Sweet innocent youth is only being corrupted at a faster rate nowadays.

Lol what?

 

[CrazyIvan1978]

I kind of understand both sides of this.

As a parent I would be positively furious. I was reading about this the other day as well and it sounds like they didn't even realize he had the phone? Just a sad situation for that family all around...

But as far as law and the state is concerned - if you open the door to filing charges against people just for saying something to someone else that is a... slippery slope. At best.

Charles Manson...

 

[Lyn]

I got in a car crash when I was 13 and had a friend tell other people at school I died to see what they would say. You don't really think past the moment when you're young, you don't see the possible consequences.

I think the difference in this case though is that the young boy responded that he was going to kill himself in response to the text, but the girl never said "woah hey I'm jk!" or attempted to follow up and see if the boy was okay, or even call the police. I think if this were a random thing to happen, with no ill intent, it would simply be a terrible tragedy. The bad part here comes into play when the girl saw he was going to attempt suicide and did nothing to stop it.

 

[The Mule]

The girl who pulled this prank is going to have severe psychological issues when she's old enough to understand the gravity of what she did.

Spoiler

Unless she's a sociopath, in which case she will probably look back on it fondly...

 

[markofhavoc]

the girl saw he was going to attempt suicide and did nothing to stop it.

I agree with this point, something should have been said or done. Too often I hear people saying they are should kill themselves as a joke when something doesn't go there way, but I think we should always take it seriously whenever it's said.

 

[Nostremitus]

As someone who has two young children, it's stuff like this that scares me the most. As far as we know, the kid didn't make any effort to tell his parents, family or friends. He just took his life because of a text.

I have an 11 year old son. It really is horrible to think about. This is why parents need to have these discussions with our kids and not just assume they know the things we do about life and coping with loss.

 

[LAM09]

Completely messed up

 

[WinFonda]

the thing I'm curious to know, and I hope they've figured out already, is whether or not this wasn't some sort of lover's pact that was formed and then maliciously and deceitfully exploited

"if i died, you would die too to be with me right?"

something to this effect isn't that an uncommon thing for young people in their first relationships to say to each other; to express their unwillingness to live without one another

if this was something they were texting back and forth, or otherwise went into detail over, then it casts an entirely different light on the intent

 

[brerwolfe]

That's...that's probably something they need to change.

If I tell you to steal something, and you do it poorly and get caught, why should I be charged?

Are you simple? Are you unable to know right from wrong? If you're a conscious human being with no intellectual disability, then you know that I'm telling you to do a bad thing, and you have the ability to handle the request in a multitude of ways.

 

[sturmdogg]

The girl wouldn't make it to next week if she did that to my kid.

 

[Koppai]

How awful! Why the fuck are kids such brats?

I swear kids need to be knocked upside the head.

I was bullied through middle school and after that it kind of stopped happening. Now I am super popular in the real world. ;p

 

[lvl99 Pixel]

Without going into detail this hits me really hard. Public schools can be like little prisons and it wouldn't surprise me if there were more to this story.

 

[Liquid-San]

This is incredibly depressing. I don't understand how people would find anything associated with a suicide attempt to be a prank, but to make matters worse, just to have the associated parties be so young is distressing. My heart goes out to the family of the victim.

 

[ElNino]

There must have been something wrong with the kid already if that sent him over the edge. An 11-year-old doesn't just hang himself because of a message like that.

Maybe not the message itself, but as the father of a boy of similar age, I can attest to their emotional state and sensitivities that could help make something like this happen.

Honestly, this type of scenario scares the crap out of me as my son has gone through his own social media issues and has made off the cuff comments that worry my wife and I. Luckily, he has a very good doctor who he trusts who we have been talking to about it already so hopefully we've caught it before anything more serious happens. Unfortunately, it's the public school board who mostly does sweet fuck all to help, and in fact have been a part in making it worse.

 

[Kadin]

If I tell you to steal something, and you do it poorly and get caught, why should I be charged?

Are you simple? Are you unable to know right from wrong? If you're a conscious human being with no intellectual disability, then you know that I'm telling you to do a bad thing, and you have the ability to handle the request in a multitude of ways.

If someone is broke and on the verge of being homeless and you tell them to steal, something they might have already been thinking about, do you think your words have as little value as you're implying above?

We don't know if this kid was already to the point where suicide was something he was contemplating, but let's not assume one way or the other or dismiss that telling someone to do something has no impact. I firmly believe that if someone is heading in one direction and they get some type of assistance from another stating it's okay or reassurance, it has a huge bearing on their final decision and should not be dismissed.

 

[bman94]

Why the fuck would suicide be a joke?

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Oh man..

 

[lvl99 Pixel]

Why the fuck would suicide be a joke?

kids and adults alike can be very apathetic toward other peoples suffering.
Lost count of the amount of times ive heard people be egged on to do it ,and sometimes they do.