Most of us were taught to call 9-1-1 in an emergency, but times they are a-changin'. Last week, two 10- and 12-year-old girls got stuck in a drain in Australia and instead of calling for police support, they put up a Facebook status update from their phones saying they needed help. A pal saw the update hours later and alerted the police, but local officials (and many of us grown-ups) are worried about the fact that they had cell phones, but didn't dial 9-1-1.
Social networking is addictive and has become the primary form of communication and outreach for many children and adults. While most people say their lives have improved from it, it seems our reliance has costs. It can cause anxiety, be an enormous time-suck, and has fundamentally changed dating and daily communication.
True Religion
wow. not only did they get stuck in a drain (both of them) but they didn't think to call emergency services. it's not the social networking that's the problem, they're just kinda dumb.
1Not only did they not call 9-1-1; they did not call their parents or anyone else, either. My guess is that they were unconcerned enough about the drain to be more worried about getting in trouble with the grown-ups.
2They didnt call 9-1-1 because that number doesnt get you anything in australia...the number is 0-0-0
3that is absurd. really. OMGZ LET ME UPDATE FACEBOOK INSTEAD OF CALLING THE COPS. im not saying that the police/emergency system is perfect but really reaching for facebook instead of police or even mom and dad is one of the most horrifying things i have ever heard of in my life. its one thing to hear about coupon codes and celeb news from twitter or being invited to parties on facebook but lets see, if i thought i was about to get raped in a subway station you bet your butt id be running for help calling for any authorities i could and not updating my god*amn facebook page.
4also, the original story that broke on http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/07/2678945.htm did say triple 0. geeksugar is an american site and yes true, americans do tend to centralize things around them. fair enough. way to get nitpicky there. but agreed with the first poster, they wont make it very long if they get themselves into such a situation and reach for facebook and not mom, dad, older siblings, babysitter, friend, neighbor, police, etc.
5Not nit picking just making a joke.
6thats absurd.. someone really dropped the ball instilling priorities and survival instincts in their child.. or i guess more than one someones.. VERY sad.
7That is insanely dumb. Maybe they should have just been left there...
Kidding, kidding, but you must admit -- it WOULD make for a great Darwin Award.
8Dialing 911 wouldn't really help them in Australia anyway, it's 000 here.
9Isn't 10 and 12 too young for Facebook?
10I think like anything else, social networking sites can be very beneficial and also very abused. I think it depends on the person....
11"that is absurd. really. OMGZ LET ME UPDATE FACEBOOK INSTEAD OF CALLING THE COPS. im not saying that the police/emergency system is perfect but really reaching for facebook instead of police or even mom and dad is one of the most horrifying things i have ever heard of in my life. its one thing to hear about coupon codes and celeb news from twitter or being invited to parties on facebook but lets see, if i thought i was about to get raped in a subway station you bet your butt id be running for help calling for any authorities i could and not updating my god*amn facebook page."
100% true, the networking is getting out of control, far too obvious when simple things such as CALLING THE PROPER AUTHORITIES (911) rather than ASKING FOR HELP ON FACEBOOK begin to become difficult to execute.
12@LilGlamDiva
Something needs to fix this problem, doesn't depend on the person alone. The environment plays a big part, privately and publicly.
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