Facebook and Suicide?: The Catholic Church Is So Very Rational

From ComputerWorld.com:

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England is warning that Facebook, texting and e-mails are destroying relationships and may even lead teens to commit suicide.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols, head of the Westminster diocese and spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, voiced his concerns about e-mail and social networks in an interview with England’s The Sunday Telegraph.

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Nichols also said online social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace, are eroding children’s and teenagers’ real-life social networks.

“Facebook and MySpace might contribute towards communities, but I’m wary about it. It’s not rounded communication so it won’t build a rounded community,” he added in the interview. “If we mean by community a genuine growing together and a mutual sharing in an interest that is of some significance then it needs more than Facebook.”

These weakened relationships, the archbishop said, can lead to suicide.

“Among young people often a key factor in them committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships,” Nichols said. “It’s an all or nothing syndrome that you have to have in an attempt to shore up an identity; a collection of friends about whom you can talk and even boast. But friendship is not a commodity, friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it’s right.”

Archbishop: Facebook can lead to teen suicide

Facebook and MySpace can lead children to commit suicide, warns Archbishop Nichols

liz | 2:35 PM | suicide