Remember our discussion of social networks? There isn't much to say about this, except advise you to learn a valuable lesson from this teenager's mistake: Don't ever tweet a terroristic threat to an international airline, it will never have a happy ending.
You see that up there? That's a tweet that a grossly misguided teenager from The Netherlands sent to American Airlines, and their response. Suddenly, she realized she had screwed up, as she subsequently blew a gasket in return.
And, with a different username, she blocked the FBI and deleted her tweets just to be safe - it's like she and they never existed!
She wasn't arrested nor did the FBI get involved, she turned herself in when the whole world started commenting on the wisdom of such an ill-informed prank. To be fair, she's a 14 year-old girl, and at that age very few people, regardless of gender, always make the best decisions.
I am so glad there was no public Internet when *I* was 14.
This just goes to show that parents should spy, always spy on your teenagers and the poor social media decisions they are making and perhaps situations like this can be avoided. This reminds me of the Facebook post where the younger generation was leaving Facebook as the older generation was joining. While social media is there to track all the poor decisions you make, situations like this, I feel fall back on the parents as well. You should be educating your children on internet safety and really... tweeting an airline company threatening a terrorist attack should be common sense.
ReplyDeleteI remember being 14 and making some really poor decisions; I still make them today because people sometimes make bad decisions. Case in point, I have owned a Honda Fit for 3 years. I understand also, that this girl was too young to comprehend the magnitude of the September 11 attacks when they took place; she is most likely just taught about them in school. But wow, I can’t believe, even at 14, that a kid would do this sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of this story. I hope this will serve as a life lesson to her. I've made poor decisions when I was her age. Sometimes my pranks would get out of hand. What caused me to stop was when my father called the police and had them scare me straight.
ReplyDeleteI've made pranks before as a kid, nut at age 14 I knew better. In this day and age, teenagers need to be taught better than this. Especially with terrorism and what could happen online and through social media. I hope this kid learned a very bid lesson.
DeleteMya Taylor
This story is crazy! I did hear a few details about it before reading the blog. What an idiot! 14 or not, why would you EVER think this was a good idea? I don't understand the thought process of this girl. Obviously, due to real world events any type of terror threat is taken very seriously. There should have been some reprecussions for her actions, even if that means no more Twitter for her.
ReplyDeleteWow! Who does that now and days? With security being so tight and closely monitored with terrorist threats she should have gotten some sort of punishment. I hope her parents got involved and set her straight.
ReplyDeleteI honestly believe they should have taken this a little more serious. They could have used her as an example and make everyone realize that it does not matter how old male or female; that a threat like this would be punishable by the law. I believe she got off the hook to easy.
ReplyDeleteAll threats should be taken seriously, especially with the way the world is now. Teenagers, and naive adults think it is okay to put empty threats online when it isn't! If someone threatens the lives or safety of anyone, they should EXPECT to be reported and looked into. Poor and ill-informed decisions can land you in a lot of trouble. Clearly, the 14 year old girl was scared and regretted what she said. However, once you say something (jokingly or not) online, you can't take it back. I can't believe she thought blocking the FBI and deleting he post would do any good in the situation. She obviously doesn't know the power of the internet!
ReplyDeleteI heard about this story the other day on CNN and thought how crazy can people actually be, especially people that young. Yes, they may not know exactly what they are doing at all times, but this is something that you shouldn't joke around with. I think that the threat should have been taken much more serious, but I am glad that American Airlines did the right thing and turned the information over to the FBI.
ReplyDelete- Shane Booth
I saw this on FOX News and found it to be very sad, it just amazes me that individuals, let alone teenagers have the ignorance to even joke about such a thing, I find it to be completely disrespectful and am ashamed that the airlines did not follow through on the investigation or even try to figure out some sort of penalty so then it will be taken more seriously.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the statement that she got off to easy. Kids these days are not held accountable. They need fear instilled in them, they need to know there are consequences for your actions. At one point in time I did allow my teenage daughter to have a facebook accout. I monitored it regularly and would correct her on the things she should not post on there as well as showed her a different way to express her herself that was acceptable. Now I have banned social media completely from my kids. Where are the parents today and who is in control here????? This little girl is old enough to know better.
ReplyDelete