Deadly Reality Of Imaginary Friends On The Internet

The Internet is the innovative breakthrough of the century. It places much of the world's knowledge at our computer fingertips. By entering cyberspace, we can converse worldwide with people we have never met. The advantages of the Net are unlimited as well as are its dangers.
Modern parents have to take into account the technological innovation's impact on the physical and mental health of their children. Cavemen only had to worry about gathering sufficient food and protecting their children from predatory animals. Modern homo sapiens have to be preoccupied with many things including contaminated toys and candy, pedophiles, filth in the media and physical bullying. Now there are new perils of cyber bullies and cyber relationships.
Modern culture is complicated and potentially devastating. Children today are less controlled by their parents even though they need to be more controlled for their own safety. This means parents have to prepare their children to be emotionally and mentally tough enough to deal not only with adults and children the family knows but with national and international people on the Internet of whom the family is totally unaware.
We are just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg of liabilities of access to the computer. A 13-year-old girl in Dardence Prairie, Mo., named Meagan Meier, on Oct. 13, 2006, hung herself after "breaking up" with her boyfriend, Josh, on MySpace. There was no real boyfriend. "Josh" was a fictional creation of Meagan's friend, Lori, her mother Tina Drew and a teenage employee named Ashley.
Meagan committed suicide even though the only connection she had with this "person" was a computer sharing of Internet messages. There was no penetrating eye contact, touching, vocal inflection or other non-verbal communication between them. This fake relationship was more important than real relationships with her mother, father, siblings or real friends in her life. This 13-year-old girl was so emotionally detached from reality and so fragile that she chose death to soothe the pain of her fantasy relationship breakup.
The community of Dardence Prairie is placing the blame squarely on the Drew family. This family has received nasty messages to leave town and even some death threats. The Drews have certainly perpetuated a despicable hoax.
Some youngsters might argue in their rigid perspective that the 13-year-old is responsible for the act of killing herself. Although blaming Meagan for this impulsive action overlooks the importance of parents in assisting to prepare children to withstand the inevitable pain of living.
Parents are ultimately responsible for their child's well-being. They bask in the child's victories as well as suffer in their child's defeats. There is no worse parent pain than the death of a child and no worse death than suicide. Behind closed doors parents continually revisit "what if" situations. The anguish does not end until the parent's last breath.
When the Meagans of the world are toddlers, imaginary friends might appear cute as well as keep the child entertained. Too much involvement with fantasy figures should raise a red flag. Television programs, reading fantasy/horror books and too much computer use are methods of keeping children occupied in an alternate world but do not replace interacting with the real world.
Fantasy relationships detour a developing child from the give-and-take of dealing with real relationships. Person-to-person contact can be stressful and problematic, though it does teach the child the coping skills necessary for their future accomplishments.
Fathers and mothers create a love of life over death for their children. This means when children are young, parents need time to assist them to embrace reality. Playing, eating, or working together as a family gives parents opportunities to teach children good habits and emotional resilience to overcome the obstacles of life. Each successful incident builds up their confidence to face the next challenge. These experiences increase the zest for life gained from children's triumphs.
Keeping our kids active in everyday life interactions with family and friends leaves them little time to squander in an often dark and depressing world of fantasy. Children have to be firmly grounded by parents to learn how to function well in the ups and downs of real life.