new media. new madness.

So I was just shown something that I find extremely disturbing. An article published by the Orlando Sentinel today describes the filmed beating of a girl about issues sparked on Myspace:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/southwest/orl-beating0808apr08,0,6721790.story

Apparently the antagonists, 8 other teens, planned the attack & hoped to broadcast it to the rest of the world.

This is awful, and what's worse is, it's not the first of its kind. I read a couple months ago of a young girl committing suicide because of bullying over Myspace. And I don't mean to be Debby Downer, but I feel like it was only a matter of time.

I know that a lot of these issues are not direct concerns of ours, but think about the young ones that you know that may buy into this online warfare. Unfortunately, it's happening more than you think.

What it does mean for us, though, is probably some more regulation of these social networking sites, advertising included.

I guess the best I can do is Jerry Springer this one: "Be good to yourself, and to each other."

-April