Talking with Tim

A recent post by Washington Post columnist and blogger Marc Fisher gave me pause.

All William Kim has left of his only son is a new kind of life after death: Daniel’s electronic remains. A cellphone with its address book — the father calls each number on the list, hoping to connect to someone who knows something. An instant-messaging account. Online game rooms, filled with Daniel’s fellow World of Warcraft players.

Give Fisher’s entire piece a read. It is both saddening and stunning. Suffice to say William Kim’s college age son, Daniel committed suicide. There were warning signs, but clearly not enough warning signs.

Many of the warning signs were ones that Daniel offered to his online friends, not to family or to others in the “real world”. In no way am I saying if the suicidal signs had been equally shown offline that the outcome would have been different. Suicide and the process leading to it is an ordeal that few can understand.

I love the Internet and the people that it has introduced me to, but I sometimes fear the isolation that it can create. A quick scan by Google turns up studies that either claim the Internet decreases or increases social interaction. Clearly it can do both and the best attitude is enjoy all things in moderation.

Enjoy the real world, I know I should more.