Saturday, September 28, 2013

The Social Network Show: Cyberbullying, teen suicide, breastfeeding bans and child porn

Trista, Jim, and Dr. J discussed new reports of teen suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among people 10-24 years of age. Suicide due to bullying/cyberbullying is being reported in the news, but no one knows the real number of attempted suicides. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone number is 800-273-TALK (8255); the website is suicidepreventionlifeline.org. Dr. J tested this number and learned that because of the network of call centers, if you call, you will never get a busy signal and will always get a live person on the line.

Trista shared an article written by Rehtaeh Parson’s mother. Rehtaeh is a 17 year old girl who committed suicide after cyberbullying following a sexual assault. In the article, Rehtaeh’s mother poses the question, What is in place to help kids who are cyberbullied and who is helping the bullies, who also need help?  She also asked for full cooperation from the social network sites.

Trista pointed out an interesting situation on Facebook–in spite of a stated policy of allowing pages to show breastfeeding, a woman whose site supports nursing mothers has been banned for 30 days for doing so.  At the same time a very large number of pages that show pornography and child pornography are allowed to remain.  Trista and Dr. J speculated as to what could logically account for the contradictory actions.

Trista will continue to be featured on The Social Network Show in “The Trista Hendren Series.”  Please check out the blog post titled, “Women and Girls Speak on Social Networks: The Good, The Bad and the Horrifying.

Listen to the lively discussion on thesocialnetworkstation.com.




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