The transition into ninth grade was difficult for Elliott due to fractured friendships and parental separation. Seeking community online through music led him to predatory networks that impacted his life drastically. His mother, Dana, provided limited internet access through parental controls, but Elliott circumvented these restrictions. Disturbing behavioral changes became evident, including withdrawal and violent thoughts. His hospitalization in early 2024 revealed the manipulation by bad actors online, targeting vulnerable kids for harmful engagements, which contributed significantly to his mental health crisis.
She set up parental controls to limit how much time he could spend online; he was not allowed on social media platforms; and he was barred from visiting certain websites.
Over time, she began to observe disturbing changes to her son's personality. '[He was] feeling like a burden isolating, withdrawing from things that he found pleasurable in the past, talking a lot about death.'
Bad actors were lurking in the forums where he was looking for community, whereas they were looking for vulnerable victims whom they could manipulate into harmful behaviors for the purpose of winning clout.
It wasn't until Elliott was hospitalized, in early 2024, that Dana formed a more complete picture of how strangers online had brought him to the point of extensive self-harm and repetitive thoughts of suicide.
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