Biggs’ father, Abraham Biggs Sr., said those who watched, and the website operators, share some blame in his son’s death. “I think they are all equally wrong,” he said. “As a human being, you don’t watch someone in trouble and sit back and just watch.”

Some viewers contacted the website to notify police, but the police did not arrive in time.

Whitworth said the anonymity of the Internet may cause some users to behave in ways they wouldn’t in person.

“Those individuals who were egging Mr. Biggs on in essence were able to depersonalize,” he said. “They would not do it face to face, but in the computer medium they were able to absolve themselves of any personal responsibility for their actions.”

They are “absolutely not” absolved, he said, but they also cannot be held accountable.

Anonymity does provide the opportunity to act in a way that would never occur face-to-face. We’ve all done things while driving that we would never do in person. I bet most people have sent emails that would never be discussed in public. So, are the online viewers partially responsible for Biggs’ death?

The video and blog postings have since been removed from the sites, but Crane, who has seen both, said that at first viewers thought the suicide was a hoax.

“The bloggers said that Biggs had threatened to kill himself before and had faked it, so at first they didn’t believe him,” said Crane. “Gradually, as you read the blog further into the day the bloggers start commenting on how Biggs isn’t moving.”

Crane said comments on the thread included an exchange about whether the image of Biggs’ motionless body was a still photograph or a video, and eventually resulted in one of the site’s visitors calling the police, who tracked down the teen through his computer IP address.

According to Wired magazine, online viewers watching the video ranged from “OMG” — Internet slang for oh my god — and LOL — an abbreviation for laughing out loud.

OK, many thought it was not real, but still… LOL and OMG? Why are we finding ourselves in a place where a young man can commit suicide while thousands look on and even encourage the act?

Montana Miller, an assistant professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, said Biggs’ very public suicide was not shocking, given the way teenagers chronicle every facet of their lives on sites like Facebook and MySpace.

“If it’s not recorded or documented then it doesn’t even seem worthwhile,” she said. “For today’s generation it might seem, `What’s the point of doing it if everyone isn’t going to see it?’”

She likened Biggs’ death to other public ways of committing suicide, like jumping off a bridge.

The story of Abraham Biggs, in my perspective, is one of a troubled young man who wanted attention and fame. He tried various means to gather that attention ultimately reaching-out to the Internet in a way that could be recorded for history. Online, he engaged in a peer-group that ultimately did not kill him, but did not prevent his death either. The death of Biggs will leave a scar on many and reminds us all how fragile the human psyche can be.

For those of you who did not take him seriously and encouraged what you thought was a joke, you will have your own conscious to deal with. For the rest, especially the parents in the crowd, please talk to your kids and make sure they have options in the face-to-face world to help them deal with problems.

A Florida teenager who used a webcam to live-stream his suicide Wednesday was reportedly encouraged by other people on the Web site, authorities told ABCNews.com.

“People were egging him on and saying things like ‘go ahead and do it, faggot,’ said Wendy Crane, an investigator at the Broward County Medical Examiner’s office.

Abraham Biggs, 19, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., had been blogging on an online body-building message board and had linked to his page on Justin.tv, a live video streaming Web site, where the camera rolled as he overdosed on prescription pills, according to Crane

And there’s more

”He would say things weren’t going well in life,” said Natasha Mazzolino, who met Biggs, 19, about a year ago in the computer lab where he worked at Broward College. “He was having problems with his girlfriend and problems at home.”

Mazzolino said Biggs Jr. spent a lot of time on the Internet and while his suicide was shocking, his decision to broadcast his death was not. Internet users who claimed to have interacted with Biggs online referred to him as a ”troll” — someone who spends many hours online — and said he had threatened to kill himself before.

”He was very much into the Internet. If this is something he was going to do this is how he was going to do it,” Mazzolino said.

Biggs ingested a lethal mixture of three different drugs early Wednesday, then continued to blog about it while others watched online and egged him on, the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office said.

The end of the video — which shows Pembroke Pines police busting into his bedroom and discovering his body — remained up on LiveVideo.com as of Friday morning.

I know we live in a voyeuristic society, but this is going way too far. This kid was obviously troubled and I suspect the majority of “viewers” did not believe the events were real, but they were. What has been interesting is the reaction to this event. One of the advantages of social networking is, there is a felling of family out there and people tend to help others out.

Take this video from TomWiki for example:

A good sentiment for an awful situation. People will often find a way to cry out for help, we just have to make sure we are listening.

Join me in welcoming Matt to the site and be sure to drop a comment or two on his first post:
“Nickelback’s New Release “Dark Horse”- Where’s the Inspiration?” Not a bad first post if I do say so myself.

-Tim

Gresham police said Gloria C. Moore went out with friends last Thursday and left her 10-month-old alone in a playpen. The girl was abandoned for six hours. When finally found, she was in a puddle of her own urine, police said.

This should be shocking news, but it seems like we hear it on a regular basis. That poor little girl. Thank goodness for Ms. Moore’s friends

Officers made the discovery after a disturbance call at the Berry Ridge Apartments on West Powell Boulevard just after midnight. Moore was arguing with friends after they discovered she’d left her child unattended.

Once again we are reminded that you don’t need any type of permit or certification to have children. All you need is the ability to reproduce and you can be a parent. The real tragedy here is the fate of that poor little girl. She will either grow-up with a mother who is clearly a child herself or as a ward of the state. Neither seems like a good option to me.

By the way, Obama took way to long to be voting the straight party ticket. Good for him!

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 17-year-old boy was confirmed Wednesday as the 23rd child abandoned under the state’s unique safe-haven law, as the governor prepared to address changes in the law.

State officials said the boy’s stepfather and mother took him to BryanLGH Medical Center West in Lincoln late Tuesday and that the boy was in state care.

Lincoln Police Capt. Jim Thoms said the parents told officers the boy wouldn’t follow their rules and that they couldn’t afford some programs he needed.

Nebraska’s safe-haven law is the only one in the country that lets caregivers leave children as old as 18 at a state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution for the abandonment.

The law was intended to protect infants, but it failed to define “child” in its wording.

The law is apparently the answer to the age-old question, “What do you do with a teenager who won’t listen to you?” In Nebraska, you drop them at the hospital and let the state deal with them:

A woman drove her troubled 12-year-old son to Nebraska from Georgia and abandoned him under the state’s safe-haven law, which parents have used to leave 20 children at hospitals since the law took effect in July.

According to the Fort Mills Times, of the 23 kids dropped off so far, the majority are in their teens, they come from Nebraska, Michigan, Georgia, and Iowa, and include a family of 9 kids ranging in age from 1 to 17. Can you imagine dropping off your 9 kids and leaving for good? Who could do that?

The law was intended to be a safe-haven for infants and toddlers, not a dumping ground for teenagers. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman is taking action:

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Deciding he could wait no longer to address what has become a state embarrassment, Gov. Dave Heineman said Wednesday he will call a special legislative session to amend Nebraska’s loosely worded safe-haven law, which in just a few months has allowed parents to abandon nearly two dozen children as old as 17.

Heineman had planned to wait until the next regular legislative session convened in January, but changed his mind as the number of children dropped off at hospitals grew. Two teenagers were abandoned Tuesday night alone, and three children dropped off previously did not even live in Nebraska.

“We’ve had five in the last eight days,” Heineman said in explaining why he called a special session. “We all hoped this wouldn’t happen.”

The special session will begin Nov. 14. That’s less than two months before the regular legislative session, but the governor and others see a need to act quickly.

This entire situation is funny on the surface but tragic at the core. It provides a graphic illustration of the skills needed to parent teens and the glaring lack of support for those in the middle of the teen years. Teens can be a pain, but driving to Nebraska and dumping them off should never be an option. Hopefully, Nebraska will get things right again soon.

In the mean time, if you have a teen who is troubling you, get to Nebraska quickly!

A national survey has found that households with a married couple and minor children are more likely than other household types — such as single adults, homes with unrelated adults, or couples without children to have cell phones and use the internet.

The survey shows that these high rates of technology ownership affect family life. In particular, cell phones allow family members to stay more regularly in touch even when they are not physically together. Moreover, many members of married-with-children households view material online together.

So, technology is connecting families to each other and improving the quality of the family unit. Interesting. Wait, it gets better.

Technology was found to be beneficial for family life, according to the study, since families using the most technology are also more likely to share more moments with family members when they are online.

On the other hand, technology can also kill family time in some cases, as dual-income households have reported less family time, and more work, partly due to the use of internet. They are also less likely to participate in family leisure time or eat family dinner, a percentage that rises with the rate of technology ownership.

However, we can’t ignore the fact that technology enables new ways of communication: 70 percent of couples who both own a cell phone contact each other at least once a day, to say hello or chat, compared to just 54 percent of couples who own just one or no cell phone.

OK. So you have to be careful with too much tech time and put the phone down when you are eating or having leisure time. I’ll buy that. My son will back me up on this one, “Put that phone down at the dinner table!”

If the increased technology time is not coming at the expense of family time, where is it coming from?

The survey also found that the Internet has affected family television viewing habits — one-fourth of respondents reported that they are watching less TV.

Another blow to the networks. We have heard about the evils of watching too much TV forever. Now, it looks like we may be listening. Of course, we are texting while driving, or fumbling with a cell phone in traffic, or stepping off a busy curb while reading email, or being awoken at all hours by an incoming text message, or …

WOODFIN – A 23-year-old man who police said was listening to an iPod suffered severe injuries after being struck from behind by a freight train on Tuesday.

Aaron James Parker V, of Asheville, was walking on a stretch of track between Flynn Branch and Farm Roads, authorities said.

“The engineer blew the air horn several, several times, and then the boy turned around right before the train hit him, and he tried to jump out of the way,” Woodfin police officer Charles Robinson said.

Parker landed about 20 feet from the tracks, Robinson said. He was in Mission Hospitals’ intensive care unit late Tuesday and in stable condition. Parker suffered several injuries, including broken bones, broken ribs, shoulder injuries and head injuries, West Buncombe Fire Department deputy chief Randy Ratcliff said.

Hit by a train! How loud is your iPod if you can’t hear a train? That level of volume can’t be good for the ears. I found an interesting article on the FDA site:

“One of the things that bothers me is that [young people] are aging their ears before their chronological time,” says audiologist David Lipscomb, who has researched hearing loss in students at the University of Tennessee.

In the fall of 1969, he tested the hearing of entering freshmen and found about 60 percent of them had hearing loss. Fourteen percent of the young men tested had hearing similar to the average 65-year-old. By comparison, only 3.8 percent of sixth-graders had hearing loss, suggesting that something–probably noise–was damaging hearing during the teen years.

“We know that the average 70-year-old will have some impairment from aging,” says Lipscomb. “But for young people [exposed to loud noises], the aging process is speeded up. They’re blowing their spare tires.”

Well, how do you know if you have it too loud? The article suggests this:

The rule of thumb for listening to music is to keep it low enough so that you can hear other sounds above the tunes. If you’re listening to a Walkman portable radio or similar headset, no one else should be able to hear your music.

I like the sound of that. At the risk of ridicule and scorn from my teenage son, I think iPods have become a bit of a nuisance. I love listening to mine when I want tune out the outside world. I use it on the bus, when I’m working on a deadline, or just vegging. What drives me nuts are people who wear them constently and expect to have conversations with you by removing one ear phone. What’s even worse are those who have the volume so loud that all around can hear. Let’s face it, when you are in your late 30s, jamming Michael Bolten on the bus does not make you cool. Seriously.

The Coca-Cola Company is redefining the relationship between consumers and their sparkling beverages with the launch of the Sprite Yard, a real-time digital “on-the-go” community that provides social connections and downloadable content via their mobile phone anytime, anywhere. This mobile marketing breakthrough launched in China on June 1st and will go live in the US later this month.

The Sprite Yard creates an entertaining social experience beyond the value of traditional online destinations by providing consumers constant mobile, social and brand connectivity through mobile devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Coke is definitely on the right track. The marketing money being spent on Internet will boggle the mind:

Studies have predicted that mobile marketing will increase sharply in the coming years, and Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have all introduced mobile-friendly search interfaces.

Mobile advertising could account for 25% of global internet advertising spend by 2011.

But what are they really trying to accomplish?

“The brand becomes the enabler of mobile social connections,” Mark J. Greatrex, senior vice president of marketing communications and insights at Coca-Cola, told a gathering of the nation’s leading mobile marketing executives. “The Yard users literally have their friends in their pockets.”

The mobile marketing effort is part of Coca-Cola’s plan to “create, connect and customize on-the-go experiences,” according to Mr. Greatrex.

Sprite’s “usage over-indexes with mobile phone usage,” Mr. Greatrex said. “This is Generation C and they’re right at the center of the mobile target audience.”

Genius. In case you have not heard, this is how Wikipedia defines Generation C:

Generation C could be said to comprise the people who use Web 2.0, create user-generated content and participate in the co-creation of products and services.

It’s getting harder and harder for marketers to reach Generation C and this effort means users will go to the Sprite Yard to interact with their peers. What could be easier? Only one question remains, how long will it take Generation C to see through the marketing campaign and declare the Sprite Yard as lame? There is a reason why it is hard to reach Generation C, they are at least a couple of steps ahead of the marketers.

Of course, over the past 23 years, loop-holes have developed. On Sunday, the Dallas Morning News had a very interesting story about how schools are finding the exceptions to No-Pass, No-Play:

UIL records show students in many other districts could easily craft a schedule in which nearly all of their classes are exempt from no-pass, no-play.

The state lets districts exempt Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual-college enrollment and other top-level classes.

On top of that, school boards are allowed to add courses to their no-pass, no-play exemption lists as long as they label them as somehow “advanced” or “honors.”

The districts must submit their exemption lists to UIL, but no one reviews the lists and districts don’t need to update them every year. Districts can also ban exemptions.

“There is kind of a broad range of allowance there,” said Bill Farney, executive director of UIL. “We don’t have a master list of courses they can and cannot exempt. Trying to make one rule fit everybody ends up with some discrepancy and some difference in interpretation or application.”

Once again, we’ve taken a simple concept and destroyed it with exceptions. Out one side of our mouths we are saying, “everyone must get good grades” while the other side says, “except for you.”

I understand the other side of this argument. I know there are kids who are only in school for athletics and they may be “lost to the streets” if they cannot play. I also understand the roll of tradition and sports in the psyche of many Texans. I think we need to realize what effect this has on the kids. Making exceptions like this says to kids, there is always an exception, you just have to find it.

In schools where No-Pass, No-Play is working, you have coaches/sponsors actively checking grades, creating study periods, developing mentoring programs, communicating with parents, and doing whatever they can to keep the kids engaged. I’ve seen schools celebrate the student athlete as the student first and the results of that emphasis is a well-balanced kid.

How can we feel any outrage at professional athletes behaving as if the rules don’t apply to them when we teach them that from the beginning? Do you really think Terrell Owens had to pass all of his classes?