19 Year Old Commits Suicide on Webcam

And here we have it; proof that our use of social networking and technology is getting a bit out of hand. 19 year old Abraham Biggs pronounced on a bodybuilding forum (apparently he was never into bodybuilding) that he was going to take 40 2mg Xanax bars that night. Later news got out that he was going to be streaming the event on Justin.tv, and the masses flocked.

The kicker of the whole incident is that this was his 2nd time trying to kill himself live on the web. Might just be me, but if your 19 year old son likes to kick it on the internet and attempt suicide, you might want to restrict his access to lethal pills and webcams. You know, just saying…

In a striking display of the power of live video, Abraham K. Biggs committed suicide on Wednesday while broadcasting himself on video site Justin.tv. As we understand it from various forum posts, the 19-year-old Floridian was apparently egged on by commenters on Justin.tv and fellow forum users on bodybuilding.com. Biggs overdosed on pills while on camera and appeared to be breathing for hours until watchers realized he might be serious, at which point they alerted the police. The video kept running until police and EMTs broke Biggs’ door down and blocked the camera’s view.

We confirmed Biggs’ death with the Broward County medical examiner. The Justin.tv video and many of the forum posts have been taken down.

The writer did bring up a good point on technology’s use and abuse getting out of control.

And it’s not as if technology enabled the taking of a life, or as if this hasn’t happened before. A British man hung himself last year after allegedly being goaded on by fellow users on Paltalk, another live video site. There was even a widely distributed movie on the topic of live-streamed killings released earlier this year called Untraceable. But last night’s incident raises a thought-provoking question regarding free hosting of live broadcasts — what could sites like Justin.tv possibly do to prevent live-streamed snuff films?

Sad stuff, man. I don’t feel like posting the pictures or the suicide note on here, but if you’re that into it it’s a Google search away.

Tags: 19 year old, Abraham Biggs, suicide, webcam