Before the widespread use of personal computers, suicide hotlines performed the community service of giving local community members suffering from mental illness an outlet for expression. All hotline workers are trained in various mental illness and how to best communicate with these callers, maintain call time limits, give local resources for further help if needed, and call the local authorities in case of an actual suicide consideration. Fact is, calls concerning suicide comprised an average of less than 5% of callers to suicide hotlines. The other 95% of the calls are from people with various mental illnesses, that were not in crisis but felt isolated from society and just need an avenue of expression.
The advent of online chatrooms brought relief to these hotlines as it provided an avenue for those not actually in crisis of contemplating suicide, to interact with others and express themselves. This alternative community of the online groups offers relief for families, communities and the individuals themselves by providing semi social environments for interaction. At the same time, it requires legitimate online groups to take on the added responsibility of administering the groups to prevent trolling, flaming, spamming and other behavior disruptive to the group. This behavior can be juvenille, or the result of personality disorders of myriad varieties, i.e., those who typically call the crisis hotlines. How far should an online group go in creating an environment of free self expression? What boundaries should be set for folks who might be better directed to a mental health chat room, where participants trained in the communication patterns of the mentally ill can respond effectively? The answers obviously depend on the goals and guidelines of the group, but in general, what do you think? http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume41/AWiderWorldYouthPrivacyandSoci/158095 http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2004/03/30/the_problems_with_technology__justice.html http://www.nowpublic.com/people/adult-cyber-bullying-should-laws-protecting-children-also-be-applied-toward-safety-adults-part-i --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
