Archbishop warns of Facebook suicides

Says site encourages "transient relationships"

Image Credit: Catholic-ew.co.uk

3 August 2009 9:39 GMT / By Duncan Geere

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, has warned against children using social networking sites because he says they make teenagers view friendship as a "commodity".

He said that the Internet and mobile phones were "dehumanising" community life, and said that humans are losing the ability to detect mood and read body language, due to a decrease in the number of face-to-face conversations that people experience.

"I think there's a worry that an excessive use or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we're losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that's necessary for living together and building a community", said the Archbishop.

"Among young people often a key factor in them committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships. They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they're desolate".

Is the Archbishop right, or is he barking up the wrong tree? Share your opinion in the comments.

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Comments

  • The bishop is absolutely right .

    Facebook and social networking sites are often the last resort of people failing to form real world relationships.
    Imagine if they are spurned or in some cases are exposed to the wrath of cyber-bullying
    Posted by eny, South Africa
  • The archbishop makes some valid points about social media and balanced relationships but suicide is a deeper issue.

    Don't blame FB because it's not FB which is causing people to kill themselves. The issue is a person's deep thoughts and feelings; the desire to be accepted or loved is a huge thing with most people. Intense attachments arise out of these desires which can quickly become obsessions.

    It's all the person's doing, even though most people aren't aware of it. Suicide is such a difficult thing to diagnose because no 2 people's thoughts are alike. We are dynamic, unique creatures who all have a different take on things.

    It's important to get to the root psychological causes and I can guarantee you it ain't FB, the web, or any other outside influence. It's much deeper and more complex.
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  • I think the bishop is right, I think technology and internet has destroyed communities, relationships and friendships in a lot of people as it has for me, I thought technology is there to help people but in a lot of cases its done the opposite, people have turned into consumer robots in this modern capitalist world and they have forgotten how to be human! I've been cyber-bullied on the net and I know how it can make you mentally ill with acute psychosis and depression with suicidal thoughts, this does happen all the time on Facebook and probably Myspace too. I feel Ive got an internet addiction, now i feel lonely and too nervous and frightened to go out and have a social life. I've thought about suicide several times and can be a vicious cycle.

    M.s.h
    Posted by Mr M.S. Heath, United Kingdom
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