Comments on: Mom Announces Child’s Death on Twitter

By: jmj2in1

jmj2in1 — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:53:37 +0000

Maybe in her panic/grief immediate response mode, she needed to reach out and send an “ALERT” so that this would never happen to another child.

By: Caitlin Kelly

Caitlin Kelly — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:59:42 +0000

What’s next — eulogy by Twitter? I also find this appalling.

By: SteveInTransit

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:29:38 +0000

I cannot imagine tweeting half an hour later if one of my own kids had just died. Much as I’d like to be high minded about this, the story just makes me sick to my stomach- that level of detachment is just incomprehensible to me. I know- I’m judging despite my best efforts.
But- the loss of one’s own child deserves a little more dignity than Twitter.

By: markmoran

markmoran — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:43:46 +0000

I’ve read all the commentary that we can’t be too critical here, we don’t know all the circumstances, we don’t know how you’d react in such a situation, people react to tragedy by doing familiar things, which for this woman is Tweeting. But it sure seems to me this woman left her 6yo and 2yo kid unattended while she Tweeted, then learned one of them was in grave condition, and went right back to Twitter. I can understand going online days later to deal with your grief, but this has the sound of a reality-era sociopath who was thirsting for attention as her son lay dying.

By: Hilary Shenfeld

Hilary Shenfeld — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:18:00 +0000

Wow. I have mixed feelings about what this mom did. On one hand, it’s a quick and efficient way to let her friends and followers know about this life-changing event. On the other, she likely learned quickly, as I did, how quick anonymous posters are to criticize.
I know what she’s going through (to a much, much lesser extent) because I posted recently about the barrage of negative comments I received on an article I (naively) thought most people would agree with because it made so much sense! http://trueslant.com/hilaryshenfeld/2009/12/14/readers-show-no-mercy-in-online-comments/

By: Karen Dukess

Karen Dukess — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:47:02 +0000

You’re right, if you want to have strangers follow you on twitter, you have to be prepared for them to react to what you’re doing and saying. there’s another irony here, however, and it’s that critics of twitter often say that all the content is trivial…and here is someone with something truly life-changing, rare and awful that she is twittering about and she is criticized for doing that.
Of course some of the comments focus on the distraction factor; that if she hadn’t been twittering so much she would have been more careful about where her toddler was. But that seems a bit much as no one knows what the true circumstances were and there is no parent who never takes her eyes off her child for even a second.

By: inmyhumbleopinion

inmyhumbleopinion — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:33:44 +0000

I just finished reading Ayelet Waldman’s “Bad Mother”. This story confirms her thesis that no matter what mothers do or don’t do, the Mommy Police will find a way to cast aspersions and guilt. We women are our own worst enemies. God help us if we actually try to listen to our own internal compasses instead of being led like sheep by the mandates of current conventions. We all need to do a better job of telling people to mind their own business. Admittedly, however, she opened the can of worms with a Twitter pronouncement, and all the community chatter that implies.

By: Brian In NYC

Brian In NYC — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:35:30 +0000

Good for you Karen for standing up for this woman.