Death by Social Media

We hear stories of kids being bullied not only in school but via social media platforms as well. Some of which have been pushed to the brink of committing suicide and some of those have even created suicide videos that have seen upwards of one million views. It's sad but it's a harsh reality in our voyeurtistic, social media obsessed world.

Director Joselito, Altarejos (Angkulet.com, 2010)

 Recently a Filipino film director, Joselito Altarejos, revealed his film entitled, "Unfriend" at the Berlin Film Festival, with a story line (based on a true event) centered on a gay 15-year-old's heartbreak and obsession with social media that resulted in the 2011 shopping mall shooting. Altarejos told Reuters, "A 13-year-old boy killed his boyfriend and killed himself inside a mall. The video was uploaded on Facebook. I promised myself I would do something about it. I would show people how social media has changed the way we live our lives, how we have become performers, and how social media has also made us voyeurs and exhibitionists."

'Unfriend' video teaser

Click here to read the full Reuters article. 

Have any of you come across anything on social media like this, whether you were actually one of the million people that watched a suicide video, a fight  or bully video, or even something as simple as a status update? What do you think we can do to make social media safer and teach teenagers and young children about using social media safely?