Life Imitates Art?

I know I promised to post something about my vacation, but I just read this bit of news online that is very disturbing and horrifying. According to the article, a Florida teen broadcasted his suicide online. Viewers logged on to watch, and there's conflicting reports that people actually witnessed the suicide as it happened. Of course, many believed it to be a hoax at the time.

The article indicates that this is not the first time someone's broadcasted a suicide online, but it's the first I've read about it and it's completely unbelievable to me. How can someone do this - both commit suicide as well as share it with the world? Was it his attempt at a last hurrah? Was it to get the attention that he may have craved? And why would people log on to view such a thing? This makes Untraceable, starring Diane Lane, more and more plausible. Has society's morals been degraded so much that page hits increase with the prospect of another person's death?

While there are tons of films and tv series that portray similar situations, this is the first I've read of it in real life. Is this an example of life imitating art? Or are there numerous examples that have caused the media to show more and more graphic images? Are today's kid's so numb to feeling emotions that anything filtered through a screen is automatically dismissed as being fake? If so, we're in for a bumpy ride because today's youth is the most technologically advanced generation ever.