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Cato the Elder once said, "I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue, than why I have one."  But Cato the Elder died over 2,000 years ago, and somewhere along the way, a few kids seem to have gotten the idea that Bebo and MySpace pages are desirable memorials.

To head off any emails: there's no need to take the previous statement as an insult aimed at dead children.  It's just that, as Peter Griffiths writes, "A British MP accused popular networking Web sites of 'romanticizing death' on Wednesday after the suicides of seven young people in the last year around a small town in South Wales."

And things on MySpace and its social networking counterparts can get rather strange.  Again, we'll freely admit that touching tributes can take place online, but when a sort of "I'll make the world miss me" mentality centers on a pink, teal, and black page with emo music playing in the background, something has gone awry.

An article and discussion at Jezebel address the issue at some length, although a cure for depression or surefire way to prevent suicide is not mentioned.  Our own, admittedly inexpert, recommendation (which follows some of the commenters' thoughts): watch a pug lick your computer screen.