What Online Community?

Young people are hyperconnected online, but the recent "deathcast" of Abraham Biggs is a reminder that many aren't really building community

By Keith Whitworth

The recent tragic incident involving 19-year-old college student, Abraham Biggs, has unwrapped a host of social, moral, ethical, and legal issues. This American teenager announced his suicide online and broadcast live his last hours on Justin.tv for the world to view. Bizarre and macabre behavior followed as some viewers egged him on.

News of the suicide and how viewers responded to it give cause for reexamining conventional wisdom concerning the role of technology in the lives of the so-called Millennials, who were born between 1982 and 2003 and grew up on the Web and mobile technology. Is it increasing the measure of social integration, or is it producing isolation among young people such as Abraham Biggs?

There's no question that social media make it easier to be connected. A 2007 Kaiser Family Foundation survey of people ages 8 to 18 showed that the average young person spends 6 hours, 21 minutes every day exposed to various forms of media. The average young person spends nearly two hours on the computer and playing video games. Much of that time is spent interacting with others via chat, e-mail, and blogs; on social networks like Facebook and MySpace (NWS); and uploading videos to sharing sites like YouTube (GOOG). These tools have become the primary means of staying connected with others and have progressed from accessories to necessities. Face-to-face communication has been usurped by computer-mediated communication.

Mutual Trust

For all this connectivity, the quality and depth of communication has decreased for many young people. Have you read a transcript of a teenager's text messages lately? Superficiality pervades these communiqués, and this type of communication tool does not inevitably nurture strong bonds between members of our society, nor does it create socially cohesive networks built upon mutual trust, respect, and commitment.

Millennials are dangerously susceptible to feelings of isolation even though they describe themselves as "connected" by means of technomedia. For example, heavy Internet use displaces other activities such as spending time with family members and friends. The result is fewer meaningful connections and a weaker social support system. Therefore, it can be argued that Millennials are more connected as a result of being online, but less likely to have meaningful relationships online.

This paradox of being more "connected" but actually less connected may explain the behavior of the spectators during the Biggs online suicide. Potentially, the spectators were able to distance themselves from the actual event and the personhood of Biggs, as a result of being conditioned to refrain from genuinely connecting online at the emotional and personal levels.

Morally Reprehensible

The events that transpired around Biggs' death can only be explained in the context of behavior unique to an Internet culture that provides participants a false impression of anonymity. It is unimaginable to think individuals would have egged on Biggs face-to-face. Within my Introductory Sociology course, students discussed this issue and the general consensus was that it would be morally reprehensible to offer a suicidal teenager more pills and encourage the suicidal ideation in a face-to-face setting.