Web2.0 Suicide: The Luxury of the 21st Century

Isabel Eva Bohrer

April 15, 2011

https://www.digitalethics.org/essays/web20-suicide-luxury-21st-century

 "How To Kill Yourself Online"  

First Impression:

Suicide has been a very infamous subject when it comes to the 21st century --- thanks to technology and social media, or rather just by posting online in any website about something humiliating, suicide and other depressing or crazy consequences are just 5 seconds away.

Quote: 

"The bigger problem is behavioral: people, including myself, are easily entertained and can waste serious amounts of time and energy engaging in mindless, pointless surfing. Facebook is just one example of this."

Reflection Proper: 

When it comes to social networking, suicide has been a very infamous subject, as in rather people know in this sort of scenario that plays out: one posts something humiliating or life-destroying about a certain person, and then the person resorts to either of the following after-effects--he or she doesn't show up anymore, change his or her look and personality, or at the worst possible effect: resort to suicidal tendencies or something criminal like revenge-murder. But the term Web2,0 is not that sort of thing, for rather this "suicide machine" website, according to the article, "lets you delete all your energy sucking social-networking profiles, kill your fake virtual friends, and completely do away with your Web2.0 alterego" -- point being, Web2.0 Suicide basically "deletes" a specific online account of your choice and leaves somewhat of an imprint or message to everyone that you've "committed suicide". One could see this at two different angles, in my opinion. One, it could be a bit beneficial for it could awaken one's eyes and tear his or her eyes away from the virtual world and focus on the reality of things; in accordance with the article, and I agree with this: Web2.0 Suicide is not entirely unethical, for everyone has the free right to disconnect and frankly, such things like online communication and rich social experiences online are basically the opposition of real-life things like talking face-to-face, or in the words of the article, "seamless connectivity and rich social experience offered by web2.0 companies are the very antithesis of human freedom"---one can't compare reality's experiences from online's experiences, for one could feel the other while the other one doesn't make you online. Also, social media can really be addictive like a drug, as in most of us can agree with this one thing: we always have the urge to go to a social media site everyday, 24/7, 365, checking every things going with the world, and always on our devices everywhere we go, like we can't live without them. The other angle is that most people would argue that "web suicide" has serious ethical implications, such as the fact that one could lose "social capital" (the resources accumulated through the relationships among people) if one is "killing" himself and his friends in the virtual world.

So, looking at this whole thing made me realize this: when we are using social media, we should be responsible for what we are doing everyday, and also try to be as ethical as possible to others; not to mention at being careful what we are doing in social media such as posting such things like current statuses or events or discoveries worth mentioning; and also one should balance his or her experiences and lives online and offline, because sometimes technology can't hold a candle to some of reality's finest adventures.

5 Things Learned From Article: 

1. I learned about "web suicide".

2. I learned about social media having massive impacts and being an incredibly powerful tool in our lives.

3. I learned about the Web2.0 Suicide Machine and what it does.

4. I learned that social media can be really quite addictive.

5. I learned that such social media portals can somewhat define's a person's identity.

5 Integrative Questions:

1. What's the main difference between "web suicide" and "suicide via web"?

2. How does one use social media in the correct manner?

3. How come even though one can deactivate or delete one's social media account, there's still that odd option provided by the Web2.0 Suicide Machine?

4. Why do people become really addictive to social media?

5. How does social media shape and/or define one's identity in real life?