I have not seen a crime of this nature,
especially when you take into account. It was 12 year old girls
They're charged with attempting to kil another 12 year old girl
who was stabed Saturday 19 times
stabing of her classmate 19 times
These are two assailants who planned for six months
how to commit murder
to please a horror character named Slenderman
Slenderman
basically a modern-day boogeyman called Slenderman
They truly believed they were just going to kill this little girl
allegedly and walk off into the forest to find this fictional creature
Welcome to psych IRL. My name is Donna
alright
So I know the Slenderman case is an old case but it
did really make me think about how the youth interacts the Internet today
The Internet is a great place to find information
Its redefined how we learn and made some of the things highlighted in school obsolete. For example
The memorization of dates isn't as important anymore
Because you can find it answer with your phone in less than a minute
You may want to rethink attending trivia night,
but not knowing when Columbus sailed the ocean blue won't kill you
I'm sorry. No. Over the Einsteins
however
An ever-present danger arises with such accessible and free information
fake news and unreliable sources is a problem
But it's more than that.
The danger is almost undetectable
but it's visible in the case of the Slender Man stabing
May 2014. In the relatively safe city of Waukesha, Wisconsin
It was just like any other day
Morgan Geyser had just turned 12 years old
To celebrate, she invited 2 other friends over for a slumber party
one of which was Anissa Weier
The girls had met at school and quickly bonded over the fictional character called Slenderman
He's said to be tall, thin, and faceless. Often wearing a dark suit having disproportionately long arms
his victims were often children
He'd appear in photos just before the children would vanish
Geyser and Weier were so obsessed with this character, they claimed they wanted to prove the skeptics wrong
to do so, they'd have to commit an act that would impress Slenderman
We have to kil Bella
okay...
Okay and do you know why she said that?
Like why would she needed to be?
We had to supposedly...
prove ourselves worthy to Slender
Geyser invited another friend to her slumber party, Payton Leutner
The plan was for Geyser and Weier to mrder this girl in order to please Slenderman
The birthday party went on as normal as it could possibly be
they went to the skate park and there was even cake
They arrived at Geysers home at around 9:30 p.m. near bed time
According to Geyser and Weier,
The original plan was to kill the victim at 2:00 a.m. to make it seem like she was still sleeping
Both girls would then run off to Slenderman's supposed mansion
located in the middle of the Nicollet National Forest
But the plan fell through
They carried it out the next morning though where the 12 year old girls lured Payton Lightner into the woods
There, she was stbbed 19 times and left
The last thing she said to me was, "I trusted you"
And then...
She's said, "I hate you"
And then we lied to her
Anissa said that she'd go get help
The victim' crawled out of the woods and was found by a cyclist
He came upon a 12 year old female, she appears to be stbbed
She appears to be what? Stbbed.
Stbbed? Correct.
Ok. Sir you still there?
yes. hi sir.
So, are you with this 12 year old female?
Yeah, she says she's having trouble breathing
She said she was stbbed multiple times.
Stbbed multiple times? yeah.
I think Anissa stbbed her first and then I continued and then...
She was like, "Morgan make sure she doesn't escape"
And then it was like, "ahhhh"
She was rushed to the hospital and luckily is alive today after several surgeries
So every time a tragedy happens there always seems to be this blame with media, you know
It was caused by video games. It was caused by movies
it was caused by GTA
and obviously there's this relationship with mental illness
and also how much the parents and parenting had to factor into it
So there isn't a very clear definition of what caused this to happen
Here's why I thought about this case
So when I was in college, I actually had to work with a bunch of little kids
Students. Fourth graders
And they all had iPads
integrated into their classrooms
In a way though in a lesser degree, we've all been victims of the Slenderman. In multiple interviews,
both girls are described as "having trouble making friends"
the girls happen to bond and spend their time enjoying creepypastas about Slenderman
From an outside perspective, the behavior is harmless
It isn't any different from enjoying one of these books
But the algorithmic nature of the Internet changes things just a little bit
from Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter
Everything you click on is designed to please you
to make you stay on the site a little longer
The parents tell David there were no warning signs of violence.
I did search iPad. I did watch over her shoulder
Do you feel responsible?
I think on some level I'll always feel responsible for not knowing that my daughter wasn't well
As a mother you're supposed to be there to protect your child
The user is actively feeding the algorithm information about themselves
and in turn the algorithm is only showing them what they may like
to lead them to another link they may be interested in so
so that they stay longer than that
the cycle goes on and on
in a way, the free choice of the internet is actually harmful
It can lead to communities committing confirmation bias
we make poor decisions because
We've only looked for data that confirms our desired beliefs rather than data that challenges them.
as a result, you have these bubbles of people that think exactly alike
and it often leads to bad decision-making also known as groupthink
people become so overconfident in their own beliefs
because they're backed up by others with a similar viewpoint
When faced with challenging opinions then,
they react with hostility
You see this all over places like Twitter and Facebook
Despite it not leading to a horrible tragedy such as this,
we still can learn something from this event.
There was disconfirming evidence of Slenderman everywhere
the myth was born in 2009 in an online forum called Something Awful
a Photoshop contest where users had to doctor images,
integrating the paranormal was held
This is ultimately how Slenderman was born
the creator Victor Surge began digitally inserting Slenderman into other old photographs
newspapers and child drawings.
The myth caught wind and other users began creating their own works with the fictional character
photographs, stories, and videos.
Though Geyser and Weier had access to this information,
confirmation bias and groupthink made their belief in the Slender Man stronger
Geyser and Weier were both charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide
Geyser is sentenced to 40 years in a mental institution
and Weier 25. Would this have happened if there was more adult guidance?
Perhaps not. But who guides the adults?
You see that building over there?
That is the LA times building
This is the first place some blame. Media.
It was that sensational articles fault. No, it was the video games
No, it was the scary movies and I'm talking about pre-internet here
We're like moving into this age where algorithms are used for efficiency
and technology is being implemented into classrooms
So I think we're gonna see more blame going in that direction very soon and like yeah
I agree that some media can act as the catalyst for why someone may do something,
there is no causal relationship
being on the internet or
reading something about Slenderman won't turn you into a murderer
It's more plausible that people who have violent thoughts are attracted to those subjects
Now you're getting at the root cause, Mental health
Mental health and that's not easy to accept because now you gotta admit that something's wrong
and that can be scary because that means the responsibility is on us
You can't blame the algorithm
but with that you could also say, now I have the power to attempt to help
what was once thought to unite us seems to divide us now more than ever
while we preach "stop the war" or "peace" on social media, we build wars with those we don't agree with
our neighbors, our friends, our family,
So how do we adapt to the quickly evolving advancement of the Internet
the danger of confirmation bias and groupthink?
The idealistic answer is to research beliefs opposed to yours or watch whatever our kids are looking at
Though not wrong, it's kind of unrealistic
We're supposed to be doing that anyway
Yet the negativity is still on social media
In addition, you can't force others to do proper research
Would they even know what to look out for if they attempted it?
The best thing we can do is show compassion to those with different beliefs than ourselves
No, we don't need to conform or be this person's friend.
But the least we can do is give another human being our respect
It's hard because our ego can get in the way
but putting someone down has never been shown to convince one of their wrongs
While we fear and place blame on the internet and Slenderman the real monster can be our own ego
So I know what you're thinking, "Ewww compassion? Respect?"
Yeah, that's a little idealistic. I know
and trust me if you know my vlogs, you know that I don't like too many cheesy things
So I guess, what you can think of is cult leaders and stuff
Cult leaders don't win people over by telling them, "Hey, you're stupid".
And then that person goes, "Yeah, you're right. I am stupid"
but they win people over by charm and outgoingness
And I guess that's what I mean by you don't really win people over by doing that.
That's the end of the video
I'll see you guys next time. Stay psyched