Decoding a Killer through Social Media

The death of a young child is one of the most heart-wrenching for people to cope with. This becomes even more difficult when the death is because of violence, especially by his or her own peers.

School shootings are happening more and more often in America. This type of violence is heartbreaking and incredibly difficult for people to understand. The most logical way to begin to understand is by asking, "Why?" However, the reasons anyone decides to kill, especially children, will never be fully understood.

When school shootings are carried out by children themselves, the media often turns immediately to social media. The generation of children in middle school and high school today post everything on social media, including every thought, feeling, and action. This helps tap into that lingering question of "why?".

For the recent school shooting in Seattle, Washington, shooter Jaylen Fryberg's social media accounts were blasted all over the news. By utilizing social media, the media was able to see that Fryberg was depressed and had a distorted outlook on his recent breakup. This helped answer the "why" in choosing his targets.

While social media can be a useful tool in looking into the mindset of a killer, it prompts a terrifying realization. Since the shooting, Fryberg's final Tweets have been retweeted thousands of times, spreading his messages of anger and hate.

By giving these hateful people attention, almost glorifying them, it shows other people with similar thoughts and feelings that killing is the answer to their problems. The only solution I see in this problem is by focusing the media's attention in memorializing those lost instead of trying to decode the motives of a killer.