In the world of Formspring, everyone becomes a Hollywood star. Nowadays, people are noticeably misusing their privilege of freedom of speech and teens in today’s generation fail to notice that their verbal abuse is becoming more serious than previously thought.
While using Facebook at school network is prohibited, why is Formspring open for use? In fact, Facebook can be a more useful tool than Formspring.
Since last November, teenagers have been using an online Q&A forum to express hatred and jealousy and to ask questions, simply by typing Formspring.me on the address bar.
Formspring allows cyber-bullies to anonymously ask sensitive questions or to make derogatory comments.
Because the Internet users are afraid to confront with their peers directly, Formspring has become a popular and useful tool for the so-called cyber-bullies.
Most teens enthsuastically admit that insulting others is fairly entertaining and tempting, as it releases their stress from school, teachers, friends and family.
But when it caused a girl to take her own life, Formspring became no longer a tool used entirely for “entertainment.”
In Long Island, New York, 17-year-old Alexis Pilkington, shocked by highly unpleasant comments people left on her Formspring, committed suicide.
Although Pilkington had been an outstanding soccer player and played a key role in her AA Championship victory, her future and family have been annihilated by Formspring.
Has Formspring been created with a mission to kill people?
Today, cyber-bullying occurs frequently and easily through instant messaging and fake Facebook and Myspace accounts. This problem occurs as a result of the ease with which new accounts can be created.
Creating a new account can be done within a minute, as most websites require only one’s name, date of birth,e-mail and a security question.
Formspring’s terms of service dictate that all users “must be 13 years or older to use this service,” in order to ensure that all users are mature enough for this service.
However, most of the comments and questions made by users are shockingly immature.
Formspring has proven that a murder does not only develop from palpable forces. A girl committed suicide due to emotional stress she had been receiving from Formspring comments.
According to the New York Times, most comments and questions were sexual and nothing positive. More surprisngly, the comments are coming from the users’ friends.
Formspring can be a tool used to find out more about or to devastate one’s life.
The freedom to express one’s feelings is granted to everyone and is protected under the Constitution, but the consequences of the rule seems to have expanded far more widely than the Founding Fathers’ intended.
It is an undeniable fact that although cyber-bullies did not murder Pilkington in reality, they did contribute significantly in influencing her decision about her life.
