Comment Central: Does the internet cause copycat suicides?

The MP who represents the town where at least seven teenagers have committed apparent copycat suicides has criticised social networking sites for creating a "virtual world" where actions appear to have no consequences.

Madeleine Moon, the Bridgend MP, urged friends of suicide victims not to go online but to seek professional help, after the death of Tasha Randall, 17, last Thursday, who was the latest teenager in a group of friends to commit suicide.

Her death has alarmed parents, health authorities and police, who believe that the suicides may be prompted by messages on social networking sites such as Bebo.

Within days, two 15-year-old girls, both of whom had known Tasha, had also tried to take their lives. Police have since visited the families of 20 of Tasha's friends, urging them to keep an eye on their daughters.

Copycat suicides are a well-known phenomenon – with research proving a connection between reports of suicide in the media and a spate of deaths – but, in Bridgend, the tributes left on Bebo appear to have had a significant impact. Friends have set up memorial pages where well-wishers have posted messages, or bought virtual 'tablets' in a remembrance wall.

The tablets on Tasha's memorial page include the messages 'RIP chick,' 'Sleep Tight Princess' and 'Sweet dreams, Angel.'

Claiming that the spate of suicides "defies belief," Ms Moon told Times Online that social networking sites were unhealthy for many young people.

"I have long wondered about all of these websites. People will post information, post photographs, they will post contact details that they would never have walked into a local pub and done themselves, but they will post them online to total strangers. That is crazy," she said.

"What worries me is that we have got a problem that we have had for some time in Bridgend, which is a problem with young male suicides. Friends of those people are, as a result, being confronted with a huge range of emotions of grief and loss for the first time.

"Instead of going to professional organisations and experts like the Samaritans to talk about those emotions, which are extremely harmful and can leave you feeling very confused about the meaning of life, they are going online and discussing these issues with friends and virtual friends who are not in the best position to advise them. Youngsters need to be given guidance on these matters from professional organisations."

She added that she was troubled by suggestions that the suicides may have been motivated in part by the youngsters’ ambition to feature on internet memorial pages.