Megan Meier is no longer with us in this world but I her tragic story is with us and it shows that children are not safe even in Internet. The story has moved many people and they are searching about “Myspace Teen Suicide” in Google. I went through some websites and read the tragic story of Megan Meier and I felt terrible. She was just 13 and she had a tough life even at this young age. The worst part was that she suffered because of vindictive fun of some adult people.
You can also read:
Committing Suicide: The Rich World vs The Poor World
Saving Indian farmers from committing suicide
AFP wrote:
Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.
Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.
The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.
I guess that the friend’s family at first took it to be a fun but then they crossed the line. I am sure that they never thought that their attack on Megan Meier to commit suicide but it was terrible to think that a bunch of adults going after a 13th year old girl. Megan’s mother knew that her daughter was in Myspace and even she knew about Josh. In fact, Megan’s mother saw that her daughter was happy with this friendship. Little she knew that this friendship would become fatal for her daughter.
Mercury News wrote:
Someone using Josh's account was sending cruel messages. Then, Megan called her mother, saying electronic bulletins were being posted about her, saying things like, "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat."
Megan's mother, who monitored her daughter's online communications, returned home and said she was shocked at the vulgar language her own daughter was sending. She told her daughter how upset she was about it.
Megan ran upstairs, and her father, Ron, tried to tell her everything would be fine. About 20 minutes later, she was found in her bedroom. She died the next day.
The good part of Internet is that here users can remain anonymous. However, this is the bad part of Internet too. It is very difficult to trace out a person in Internet. Megan’s parents had little hope of finding out who Josh Evans. In fact, they found about this hoax accidentally.
SLT Today wrote:
Six weeks after Megan died, on a Saturday morning, a neighbor down the street, a different neighbor, one they didn't know well, called and insisted that they meet that morning at a counselor's office in northern O'Fallon.
The woman would not provide details. Ron and Tina went. Their grief counselor was there. As well as a counselor from Fort Zumwalt West Middle School.
The neighbor from down the street, a single mom with a daughter the same age as Megan, informed the Meiers that Josh Evans never existed.
She told the Meiers that Josh Evans was created by adults, a family on their block. These adults, she told the Meiers, were the parents of Megan's former girlfriend, the one with whom she had a falling out. These were the people who'd asked the Meiers to store their foosball table.
The worst part of the story is that the family of Megan Meier is paying all the price. The death of Megan Meier has put the family under a lot of stress and her parents may get divorced soon. I really wish that her parents can somehow overcome the grief and decide to stay together for the sake of Megan Meier. I am sure that Megan would never want her parents to get divorced.
The blogger of Death by 1000 Papercuts feels that the story of Megan Meier would help many teens in future:
How could this story prevent others like it from happening?
TAKE 15 MINUTES
Do you have a teen? Do you watch "Jerry Springer"?
Judge Judy?
Oprah?
Turn off the TV, have them sit down and give them a copy of this story. If they haven't already heard about it, have them read it. They will probably wonder what's up at this point.
I feel that the most important thing from Myspace Teen Suicide is that this can happen to any child anywhere. Megan’s mother did nothing wrong. She was always careful about what Megan was doing. She knew about everything and she tried to support Megan. She is a good mother- no doubt about that. However, Internet can be a very deadly place.
Yes, it is really tragic that only Megan’s family paid the price.
Yahoo wrote:
Ultimately no charges are likely to be filed over Megan's death, simply because there's no law broken for the adults to be charged with. The FBI investigated and was unable to recover all the messages Megan received, so the true level of provocation to suicide may never be known.
The best thing you can do is to educate your teenage children about the dangers of Internet so that they can deal better. Secondly, whenever you can find out that your child is under attack in Myspace or another website then try to support your child as much as you can.
The South Asian people who are reading this story should also become cautious about their children too. Internet is expanding very rapidly in
Liked this entry? Then, why not support me? Just subscribe the feed of this blog at free of charge, Please.
» Google Trends: What is Hot Now- Elena Sokolova? from SouthAsiaBiz
I am a big fan of Google Trends. In fact, I visit Google Trends many times a day and it is quite fascinating to see the way things get changes there almost every hour. I am talking about Hot... [Read More]
Tracked on: November 17, 2007 2:27 PM | Permalink to Trackback