Our children and the Internet....a serious post.

Teenagers and the Internet have been bothering me for awhile. Let me rephrase that, I am not being bothered by teenagers as I don't hang around in those kind of chat rooms, it is the behaviour of teenagers, their attitude to the Internet and what it actually is, that is my bugbear.
Let me tell a true and tragic story to illustrate my point. There was a teenage girl that committed suicide. She threw herself under a tube train, a truly horrific way to go for those that had to witness it, the train driver and her family. She did this in response to a friend that did the same a month before. So far so tragic but here in lies the real tragedy, the "friend" was an Internet friend, not someone she'd ever met, just someone she'd communicated with across a bunch of wires and the communication, in reality, was nothing more that a series of 0's and 1's, binary, not even a real conversation and she died for that.
I was shocked by all of this and then had some dealings with the Police over the incident as my daughter had met the girl the day before her death and apart from the family, was possibly one of the last people to see her alive. He needed to interview my daughter for all the obvious reasons but also to check that my daughter wasn't suicidal as well. This whole incident wasn't an isolated action, he was angry because it is more common than is publicised and he has to deal with this type of thing every single week, just in the South East of England.
Our children are growing up believing that the Internet is real and the people on it are genuine, honest and are real friends. Where we had to make a phone call to arrange to meet our friends, they conduct virtual relationships that never have to go into the realms of reality and it is all instantaneous. The issue is several fold, they have accounts on Formspring and Tumblr, websites that are unmonitored, where anything can be said and done. The Policeman did highlight Tumblr in particular as a problem as it is very commonly used and the company behind it refuse to do anything to regulate the posts or content of the various user microsites.
I have previously emailed contacts within Tumblr and their sponsors to try and get them to regulate themselves but had no response. I am aware that the family of the girl that died are trying to organise something to get the laws changed. Face it, any website that doesn't regulate bullying, promotion of self harm and ultimately suicide pacts, is a serious problem and needs to be villified and the people responsible for the website need to be named and shamed. Apparently in 2012 they introduced a policy to regulate their blogs but to see how effective they are, simply search "tumblr" and your chosen subject in Google to see how that worked out.
So, here are the details I have for Tumblr and their sponsors, all information that is in the public domain.

The CEO and founder of Tumblr is David Karp.

Sponsors/Investors:
Spark Capital: http://www.sparkcapital.com/about/contact-us/
                        http://www.sparkcapital.com/team/
Betaworks:     http://betaworks.com/contact.php
                       http://betaworks.com/about.php
Union Square Ventures:  http://www.usv.com/team/
Sequoia Capitol: http://www.sequoiacap.com/us/team/venture
Greylock Partners: http://www.greylock.com/teams
Insight Venture Partners: http://www.insightpartners.com/team/

23rd Feb 2012 Tumblr statement:
Tumblr, a photo-heavy blogging platform that has attracted a lot of teens, announced today that it will ban blogs containing content that promotes anorexia, self-mutilation, and other harmful behaviors.

This was posted on a Tumblr blog 1 hour ago:


Anonymous asked: I self harm, tried committing suicide on the 3rd Feb 13 but survived after a week on life support... I want to die, have planned it all, but I don't know what to write in my suicide note? My parents asked me why I didn't leave a note in Feb, but I'm tired and really don't care anymore
well i’m glad that you’re still here. you deserve to be here. you really do. people care about you. i don’t think i would know what to write in my suicide note. maybe i would just write down this blog URL. i mean it pretty much explains everything.

So the suggestion for a suicide note is to simply write the URL of that particular Tumblr blog.

The grownups that run Tumblr appear to be too busy making money to be concerned with morals and decency. It certainly appears that they are mouthing the right words but words are pointless without action. Are their sponsors aware that they are, by proxy, ignoring children that are self harming, starving themselves and killing themselves, when they could do something about it...and their company names are loud and proud on the Tumblr website?
Even the brightest of teens can be remarkably naive and stupid. They respond to each other, starve and cut themselves to fit in and in the worst cases kill themselves for no apparent reason.
This is not a blame game, we have to be aware of what our children do, it is any parents responsibility to monitor, as much as possible, what their children do on the Internet but if you ask any teen if they have a Tumblr account, a very large percentage will answer "Yes" to that question.

Here are some quotes from Tumblr blogs that are easy to find on Google and you can decide if you think this is right or if you think the owner/s and sponsors of have a responsiblity to the teenagers that they actively court, as much as we, the parents do, to keep them as safe as we can.

What do I want to be when 'I grow up'? THIN.
Hayley 18 Australia, Anorexia Nervosa. I am striving to be perfectly thin, and I will do whatever it takes to get there. I believe that with the right attitude, willpower and motivation I can reach perfection :)

"That’s the problem with cutting. Once you start, you can’t stop. It’s addicting, cutting is my drug. It serves its purpose perfectly. Once I cut, I forget about everything that has been wrong. All that is left is my concentration on my cut. I forget about everything but the pain. Pain has become my world.”

Someone posted a Suicide Note on their Tumblr (for tomorrow) - How to report?

I was googeling random things like what percent of food puked up ... whatever. I found a tumblr about pro-bulimia. well, one entry.
And then I clicked to see what else she writes and her latest post was today about killing herself...
Well now I feel terrible. I sent an email to tumblr support but it was an automated response...
Help? Suggestions? 

Hello. I'm a guy and I'm 17. I'm gay. Bye.
End This Nightmare.
Death Awaits.
Life: To Be Discontinued.

I haven't included the cutting photos or the photographs of anorexic people that accompany these posts. Nothing can convince me that an adult that allows this to exist within his business is not more concerned with profit and money than the the future generation, your children. In the words of many of the teens that are struggling with the modern world.....Make it stop!!