Mom Shellie Ross' Tweet About Son's Death Sparks Debate Over Use of Twitter During Tragedy

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Amid tweets about the weather and her pets, mommy blogger Shellie Ross shocked many of her 5,000 followers with a message on Twitter they weren't expecting to read.

"Fog is rolling in thick scared the birds back in the coop," Ross tweeted at 5:22 p.m. on Monday.

At 5:23 p.m., her son called 911 to report that his brother, 2-year-old Bryson, was floating unconscious in the pool. Records show that the Brevard County Fire-Rescue paramedics arrived at Ross' Mirrett Island, Fla., home at 5:38 p.m.

And 34 minutes later, at 6:12 p.m., Ross tweeted again. "Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool."



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/shellie-ross-twitter-mom-tweets-son-death-pool/story?id=9353490

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I don't know that she did anything wrong, but I do wonder at people having to share family tragedies & scandals with strangers via either technology like Twitter or the TV/cable media.

[OneGrassRoot]

1. Normally I would be totally creeped out by this....

I think the personal "tweet" phenomenon is just...well, not my taste...tmi and who really cares about most daily activities?

However, in this case, as a mom, while I don't know if I'd reach for my cell to tweet ('cause I've never done Twitter"), I would think it would cross my mind to reach SOMEONE to ask anyone and everyone to pray, send good vibes, whatever.

In that sense, in her panic, that is probably what she was thinking and it isn't as callous as it initially seems.

IMHO.

And how very, very tragic and awful.

:cry:

edit for typo

[RamboLiberal]

2. True - many are more connected to their online friends

and not with neighbors, co-workers, etc. as we were before the internet.

Being that I'm 57 I'm kind of a bit of a luddite on this. I really don't understand the attraction of Twitter, etc. But then I'm posting on DU. Go figure.

[Book Lover]

3. There is *zero* difference between what this woman did and DUers who

pass on new about their own tragedies. What kind of person does it take to excoriate a grieving mother as she reaches out in her grief to ask for prayers?

[RamboLiberal]

6. I'm one of those DU'ers who is very reluctant

to bring personal tragedies to an online forum. And I'm not dumping on those who do, but I just don't feel comfortable to put a lot of personal info or put my own tragedies on an online forum to people I only know by screen names.

I think one of the points on this story is that her Twitter went out to over 5000+ people who follow her Twitters. I think it would have been a different case if it went out to only those she is personally friends with.

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Peter Post, great-grandson of etiquette expert Emily Post and director of the Vermont-based Emily Post Institute, agreed. He called McGraw’s comment “horrendous in its implications.”

“I’m not sure this is the appropriate time or place to be chastising anyone,” he said.

Post said that Ross asking her Twitter followers to pray was akin to asking a congregation to pray.

The problem with modern communication mechanisms such as Twitter, he said, is that they are so fast and easy. “We put things out there and wish we hadn’t,” Post said. “It’s not just your friends who see it: It’s the whole world, potentially.”

For now, the Ross family simply wants to be left alone to grieve.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091217/NEWS01/91217002/1086/After+boy+drowns++mom+s+reaction+scorned++defended+on+Twitter

[Book Lover]

19. If you don't use Twitter, then you don't understand how it operates

Not to get too into it, but there are many different ways of getting your tweets. Putting it simply, not every one of her followers got and read these tweets as she sent them.

Not that any of this matters. How can anyone with a soul find fault with a woman seeking comfort after her child dies?

[Posteritatis]

15. This thread's full of the answers to that question

DU's had a particular hate on for Twitter since it decided the medium's intrinsically Republican earlier this year.

[Book Lover]

20. Which kills me

there are plenty of artists, authors, musicians, and left wingers on Twitter. But of course you just can't tell some people anything.

[Shallah Kali]

26. It's also the same as those who belong to church prayer chains asking for prayers

I have asked for prayers & good vibes many times here on DU and elsewhere so I get where she is coming from. If a person believes or at least hopes there is really is something to the power of prayer getting as many as possible sending out good vibes makes sense. It's not like she tweeted and only *then* called 911 or something like that for goodness sakes!

[TwilightGardener]

4. No different than seeking support from bystanders in an accident.

She didn't have any bystanders, so she turned to those she had been communicating with, minutes before.

[enlightenment]

10. I don't think it's clear who was around her at that point.

I have less of a problem with her 'tweeting' immediately (I assume her son had not been pronounced at that point) than having the wherewithall to post a 'memorial' complete with photos five hours later - that seems a bit odd. It would appear that she has more of a relationship with the virtual world than the real one, which is very sad.

I do feel sorry for the family; the loss of a child is always horrific, regardless of how one responds to the event.

[TwilightGardener]

11. I didn't read beyond what was posted--that IS a little weird, to post a memorial/photos--

one would think she'd be in shock and dealing with the nitty-gritty reality of what happened, rather than spend time on the internet posting stuff. It's hard to judge people, though--I know I don't always make myself proud when bad shit happens.

[Posteritatis]

16. Spending time posting about it online is incompatible with being in shock?

S'what one of my friends did for a couple of days when her parents unexpectedly died, and I know I'm not high and mighty enough to look down on her for it. People react to things in different ways and I don't have a problem with that, even if lots of people here are going to just see the T word and start to froth up.

[tammywammy]

5. Should she have used the phone then?

It's the same thing, reaching out to as many as possible as quickly as possible. She had a network of friends via some mom/parenting site and Twitter. I don't fault her, she did nothing wrong.

[CBGLuthier]

7. Maybe instead of sitting at a computer she should have been watching her child

She sent a tweet one minute before anyone called 911 that had nothing to do with her son. Bullshit she was cleaning the shed. She was on her computer and not paying attention to her child. Expecting an 11 year old to take that responsibility.

Don't give a fuck about the tweeting after. I want to know why people with swimming pools and toddlers are such fucking idiots because this happens time and again.

[Lance_Boyle]

12. No shit - an 11-year old called 911 while 'mommy' fluffed her ego online.

Criminal negligence. And fuck this "she's suffered enough with the loss of her child" bullshit. The tweeted memorial shows clearly that it was just another attention-seeking opportunity for her. All about her. Lock her up.

[varelse]

18. Mommy was performing CPR while the older brother called 911

I can't say what I'm thinking about your own attention seeking without risking a ban.

[Lorien]

22. *crickets*

another hater of women has no reply to the facts.

[Codeine]

14. Most people don't Tweet from their computer,

but rather from their phone. It's entirely possible to be cleaning the shed and Tweeting.

[CBGLuthier]

25. and watching for your children all at the same time

Well the shed is clean and the tweets went through so two out of fucking three ain't bad eh.

[Devil_Fish]

17. +1.NT

[onehandle]

8. More evidence of Twitter addiction. nt

[PfcHammer]

9. Couple of AUstralian girls updated their FB status that they were

stuck in a drainage pipe or something instead of calling 911. ;-)

[marshall]

13. Remember the woman a few months ago who tweeted her miscarriage AS IT WAS HAPPENING?

She was in some kind of business meeting and didn't feel she could just get up and walk out. She tweeted something like "I'm sitting here in a meeting having a miscarriae--at least I won't have to go through the waiting period for an abortion." Because she was in a state (Wisconsin I think) that has a week or ten day waiting period after you request an abortion and when you can actually have one.

Twitter is going to creep further and further into our lives.

[Lorien]

21. So what's the problem? If this woman really believes in prayer then

it seems like a natural thing to do, asking anyone you know to send "good karma" or whatever. People need moral support in times of tragedy. We see it all the time here on DU.

[HipChick]

23. I find it odd that she was twitting..but can't really blame her for the death of her son..we had a

kid drown in the local gym pool this week, she was 5yrs old and drowned in 4ft of water in the kiddie pool..the gym has a daycare on site

[Javaman]

24. Tweeting compulsive disorder leads to lack of tact.

Just my observation.

[Dappleganger]

27. Twitter is faster than a phone call, and easier to use if you're emotional.

You can use it to spread info or ask a question far more quickly than conventional methods of communication without having to get into a back and forth discussion.

[JI7]

28. they probably don't view them as strangers after interacting online

even if they never met in person.