Myspace and suicide

I'm a user of Myspace and have some 'friends' who readily admit to mental health challenges. I often find it difficult to manage my communication and responses to their messages, blogs and comments that signal vulnerability and despair.

What I have found is that often people appreciate the opportunity to have someone 'listen'.... watch words of support appear on their screens..... and be cheered by a friend they may never have had.

Suicide is often the last step on a pathway of alienation and loneliness... focus on the reality that social networking sites can provide a preventative forum for this - enabling young people to initiate and sustain friendships and relationships they otherwise may not.

The media has spent disproportionate time focusing on the negative aspects of internet use and online chat and networking sites. Time and resources could be better spent emphasising the value that collaborating and communicating with the human beings behind the screens and the web can provide. For example, highlighting the reality that Lifeline has created its own Myspace.

Sure there are potentially dangerous sites and connections to be accessed.... a responses could be to flood the web with positive and supportive spaces.