Entertainment - Monday, November 24, 2008 13:54 - 12 Comments

Teen’s Internet Suicide Begs Generational Questions

In case you missed it, a Florida teenager overdosed on prescription pills and let the world watch through a live, streaming webcam on the Web site Justin.tv.

Obviously, his death is a tragedy, and suicide should never be taken lightly. But I’m fascinated by how Millennial this episode was.

Have we reached the zenith of over-sharing? Giving birth on camera is nothing new (half of Discovery Health’s roster of shows is of the women-perilously-going-through-labor variety), but here we see a homemade snuff film and a paradox most emblematic of the MySpace Generation, encapsulated in the teen’s suicide note:

“I have come to believe that my life has all been meaningless,” he wrote on another message board. He found his life meaningless, yet still felt the need to share his death with the world. Such public communication suggests that he actually felt his life had plenty of meaning. I am not doubting his depression, and I’m not saying he was an idiot—what I am saying is that anytime you put something on the Internet, you imply its importance to others. After all, if it wasn’t important, why would you share it in the first place? Continue…