With Facebook becoming the worlds most popular website, surpassing Google just last week as the most visited site in 2010, it’s only normal that there will be a gazillion bizarre stories.
Just yesterday I posted THIS BIZARRE VIDEO of an Uncle who beat his nephew on webcam after finding out he was pretending to be a gangbanger on Facebook, now comes the sad tale of a woman who announced her planned suicide via her Facebook wall and NOBODY came to her aid!
Simone Back, 42, was found dead in her apartment in Brighton, England following her final message on the social network. She posted the following on her facebook wall at 10:53 p.m. Christmas Day:
“Took all my pills be dead soon bye bye everyone.”
According to the UKTelegraph, some of Back’s Facebook friends posted reply messages calling her a liar and one even said it was “her choice”.
The discussion continued for 148 messages, but no one reached out to Back until her mother, Jennifer Langridge, phoned the police after receiving a text message about her daughter’s message 17 hours after it was posted.
“Nobody told me anything about it until the following day when I was sent a text saying: ‘get help’, said Langridge.
Seventeen hours later, police broke down the door of Back’s apartment where she was found dead.? It is not yet known at what time she passed away or whether she saw any of the replies to her post.
Clearly, Miss Back, a charity shop worker, had reached out to her online “friends” about her suicidal feelings but instead of treating her with the compassion she deserved and needed, some of them reacted with cruel taunts even while she lay dying, as this shocking exchange of messages revealed:
Christmas Day, 10.53pm: Simon Back posts the status update: “Took all my pills be dead soon bye bye everyone.”
11.01pm: “Friend” A writes: “She ODs all the time and she lies.”
11.02pm: Friend B responds angrily: “I hope that she is lying about this or you’re going to feel guilty tomorrow.”
Boxing Day, 12.09am: Friend C writes: “Did you catch the part about Simone taking pills?? .. the ‘bye bye’ part?? Did anyone go by personally and check on Simone.. or call 999?? what’s wrong with you people?? is the gossip really more important than her??”
12.56am: “Friend” A retorts: “She does it all the time, takes all of her pills”, then, 14 minutes later, “She’s not a kid anymore.”
1.56am: A third worried friend writes: “If any of you actually call yourself friends one of you should call round and see if she’s ok, I’m glad I don’t personally know any of you, heartless.”
12.01pm: Another Facebook user logs on and writes: “She has a choice and taking pills over a relationship is not a good enough reason.”
1.56pm: Friend C comes back to check and writes: “I would never treat another human the way you are treating her, there is someone out there who’s desperate and all I can see is people feeding her.”
At 4pm, Mrs Langridge called police to the flat after receiving a worried text and an hour later, Miss Back was pronounced dead in hospital. Langridge later posted the following on her daughter’s Facebook page:
“My daughter Simone passed away today so please leave her alone now.”
Sussex Police are not treating her death as suspicious and the case has been investigated and is now closed.
The use of social networking grown to such an extent that almost any situation is possible these days. To Facebook’s credit, they do provide several resources on the site to assist you in case you come across any disturbing posts, but that doesn’t relieve YOU of the responsibility for your own actions.
Resources: