Myspace Hoax (Blog Review)

“To me this case seems to be a clear case of slander. Slander being defined as “the spreading of damaging words or ideas about a person, directly or indirectly, in all other forms not considered libel.” (Essentials of Business Law, Luizzo, pg 45) The mother that created the MySpace account had the intent to slander the already emotionally fragile girl. (Anchor Drive Productions)”

I had written myself that this was an act of slander. The mother did create a Myspace account with the intent of emotionally hurting the young girl. The definition of slander, which Anchor Drive Productions described is exactly what the mother did.

“Because she used a pseudo names she violated the agreements on MySpace. I felt that she was responsible for pushing this young girl over the edge. Whether she knew it or not this girl suffered from severe depression. With further research could this woman also be charged with even more including negligence? (design guru 84)”

Lori Drew definitely violated the terms and agreements of Myspace. It says that you cannot make any false claims about your identity. I’m sure people lie a little bit about their selves here and there on Myspace, but the fact that she intended to do this to a girl (not just any girl, someone who is depressed) for the purpose of hurting them emotionally is just straight wrong! She did in fact push Megan to commit suicide; regardless if that was her intention in doing so. The only thing I disagree with design guru 84 is that I don’t think it would be considered negligence because Megan was nothing to her, not a relative nor someone Lori Drew was responsible of.

“I believe that it comes down to parenting. If Megan had a disorder and her parents knew that she was mentally unstable, why did they allow her to get involved with someone in the first place? With any romantic relationship, emotions-both physically and mentally, are always involved. And having a young girl such as Megan, with some type of disorder, should have never been given permission at all to have a relationship. Let alone, a Myspace account. If Megan’s parents knew that Megan was bothered and upset, why didn’t they stop online privileges or discontinue her Myspace subscription? What the hell were Mr. and Mrs. Meier thinking? (Flip Beats Productions)”

I could agree and disagree to what Flip Beats Productions said. Yes, it is true that Megan’s parents should have paid more attention to their daughter when they clearly knew that she was bothered and upset, but you have to look at it from Megan’s point of view and the parents as well. It does not discuss whatsoever about the parenting given to Megan by her parents in any of the articles. Everyone faces their teen years, whether they were good or bad experiences. Remember how we would always disobey our parents and still use the internet if we weren’t allowed to? Or making phone calls to friends when it’s past our bedtime… little things like these are a big deal when it comes to early adult hood. Megan could’ve been told to let her Myspace go and not take things too seriously, but as a teenager with hormones rushing through her brain will do the exact opposite of that. I wouldn’t say that the parents are all too blame, but I agree that they have a part in her death. I’m sure if Megan’s parents forbid her to use Myspace, she would have still found a way to access it one way or another.

“Should parents with kids that are still teens make some type of effort to monitor their child’s online time? Maybe through the use of third party software or opening better communication, parents will be able to understand their kid’s life from both an emotional and physical aspect. (Raw Impact Designs)”

The opening statement to Raw Impact Design’s post was very strong. Raw Impact Designs raised some questions to think about the entire situation. One concern I do have is privacy. When we were teenagers, all we wanted was to be left alone and not have our parents bother us. Am I right? Raw Impact Designs states that the parent’s should have a third party software to monitor their child’s internet usage. I think that would cause even more problems, especially if Megan found out. I remember once in middle school, I had been talking on the phone with my friend for hours about boys, school… and other useless information we had to tell each other in middle school and I had found out that my father had recorded the entire conversation through the answering machine. He didn’t listen to it, but the fact that I knew he invaded my privacy, at that age and state of mind, made me go crazy! Software to spy on children isn’t the best thing to do. I do agree though that the parents should have paid more attention to Megan and look for signs of depression, which she clearly had.