Shellie Ross Twitter Uproar: Mom's Tweets After Son Drowns Spark UPROAR

A mother's update on Twitter shortly after her two-year-old son's accident has sparked controversy online over the limits of sharing information over the web.

USA Today reports:

Two-year-old Bryson Ross died in the family's swimming pool Monday. Mother Shellie Ross posted on Twitter.com about his accident a half-hour after she called paramedics -- and then was attacked by strangers nationwide in follow-up tweets and blogs for doing so.

Ross has a presence online, with a blog called "Blog4Mom" and a Twitter account, Military_Mom, with over 5,000 followers.

Although Ross's Tweets concerning her toddler's accident have since been removed from her Twitter feed, Florida Today reports on the sequence of updates the mother posted immediately before and after her son's drowning:

At 5:22 p.m. Monday, she tweeted about the rare fog that rolled over Brevard County as she worked in her chicken coop.

According to 9-1-1 records, a phone call from Ross came in at 5:38 p.m. that she had found her son at the bottom of their screened-in swimming pool.

She posted a tweet at 6:12 p.m.: "Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool."

Several hours later, at 11:08 PM Ross Tweeted the following, with a link to a photo that has since been removed:

Remembering my million dollar baby http://twitpic.com/tkt9t

Bloggers and Twitter users have responded with both support and criticism.

Madison McGraw wrote a post on her blog chastising Ross's decision to Tweet:

Anyone that has ever spent any time on Twitter knows that answering replies and sending out messages can literally eat up your time...a ten minute check of Twitter can turn into hours.

Perhaps if Mrs. Ross had spent less time Tweeting and more time playing with her son, this would not have happened.

Twitter user @jalynsandoval Tweeted this response to Ross's loss, "military_mom 's fault for not keeping an eye on her son while he was next to the pool. she was to busy with twitter i guess. RIP kid," to which Ross replied,

@jalynsandoval you are an ass, I was outside w/him and it took 2 sec for him to slip away, I hope U never feel this pain u ass

Friends of Ross have come to her defense, Florida Today notes, calling her a "devoted" and "fantastic" mother.

Ross's Twitter incident recalls another Twitter controversy in which Penelope Trunk Tweeted about having a miscarriage during a board meeting. Her message read:

I'm in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there's a f*****-up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin.

What do you think -- overshare or acceptable? Where should Twitterers draw the line?

Follow HuffPostTech On Facebook And Twitter!

Comments

[tacomamama]

01:25 AM on 12/22/2009

I love that all the critics here see no irony in using this forum to blast a mom for using another kind of electronic forum to express her grief.

By the way, did you know that on this page alone, you can: share this article on facebook, post it to twitter, post it to blogger, post to wordpress, post to Tumblr, buzz it up, become a Huffpost social news member, indicate your approval or disapproval of every comment on the page, and express judgment about someone who just experienced the accidental death of a 2 year old child. You know Huffpo commenters, you're right. This Twitter thing is really getting out of control.

[LynnBarnstorm13]

07:13 AM on 12/21/2009

The reason this has gotten so much attention; it’s a current social dilemma. It is a modern-day cautionary tale. This magnificent technology has, unfortunately, given addicts or potential addicts a new avenue for achieving a high that could have remained dormant their entire lives and never bubble to the surface.

The MASSIVE implication is this: did you ever see “Wild Palms”? People are going to have their head up their tweeting and gaming asses. Savvy, super-intelligent, and extremely evil people are lining up right now to take advantage of this weakness.

The Head-Assers are voluntarily giving up their waking lives to pursue the dopamine. Yes, there are human tragedies on a small scale like what happened to this woman. It’s just a just a drop in the bucket in the big picture. The (probably) moderate computer-users criticizing the woman seem callous, but recognize this little drop. Those of you that say it doesn’t matter that she was doing this specific thing, don’t want to hear it.

The Fittest are not staring into these little screens all the time, although they use the Internet and computers. They see what the Head-Assers do. It will be both Orwellian and pure Darwin. The Fittest will be in control of absolutely everything. The sad thing is, as long as the Head-Assers can look and interact with their little screens, they won’t even give a shit.

[TweetDeckTV]

06:43 PM on 12/19/2009

I will withhold my ire and simply try to remain constructive...if only the media would do the same.

If Laura Freed is a former EMT, why didn't she go on MSNBC as Laura Freed the former EMT instead of "Madison McGraw" the author? She could have advised MILLIONS of people to refrain from leaving a toddler in the supervision of an 11 year old, and to always check the pool first.

The media are SICK when they allow a woman who openly solicited PR from numerous agencies to go on TV under her pen name in order to drive sales of her books.

THIS FACT IS A MUCH LARGER ISSUE THAN ONE ACCOUNT OF A DROWNING TRAGEDY.
Now a horrible person has wormed her way into the media, instead of the media focusing on preventing child drownings.
Here's a thought: Let's spend the news coverage on broadcasting something helpful:

For pool owners - if suddenly a child is missing, always go to the pool first instead of searching the
house. Brain damage happens within 4 minutes, so checking the pool first is a good idea.

MEDIA AGENCIES, I just dare you to instigate a campaign to publicize THESE points instead of broadcasting a person making criminal accusations under an assumed name.

[XCITIZEN]

01:36 AM on 12/19/2009

One word pretty much sums it up: FLORIDA.

[JessicaGottlieb]

12:26 AM on 12/19/2009

Would we hold someone responsible if they were driving a car and tweeting while driving, got into an accident and caused a death?
Everyone KNOWS that social media is a totally acceptable reason to ignore your child.
People that don't understand Twitter are OH SO bitter.
Shellie Ross should NOT be held accountable. She already feels REALLY BAD and she just posted a BLOG that said "LEAVE US ALONE."
Glad to see that losing her son b/c she was busy tweeting and uploading pictures to Twitter has NOT prevented her from staying online.
Keep Blogging Girl. Everyone supports you and we TOTALLY overlook the fact that you were twitting instead of watching your kid.
I hope to raise my kid to be as responsible and devoted a mother as Shellie.

[Jessica Gottlieb]

05:25 PM on 12/19/2009

Obviously, not me.

[Jessica Gottlieb]

05:26 PM on 12/19/2009

A series about cyberbullies might be timely. :)

Philadelphia IP address? Yeah, I thought so.

[DukeLaw]

06:58 PM on 12/18/2009

74 tweets in the 9 hours before her toddler's death. More than 8 tweets an hour. One tweet every 7.5 minutes. How about the tweets that she was reading?

If you're going to tweet/blog as a full time job, how about getting a full time baby-sitter.

[Mr-Mikey]

03:26 PM on 12/18/2009

Something I'm trying to wrap my mind around... we have the link of the story from abc, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/shellie-ross-twitter-mom-tweets-son-death-pool/story?id=9353490, then we have new york times article countering it.

And then we have the fact that the mother deleted her tweets, see.. If my child had died.. I would only cover up my actions and deeds if I had done something wrong.

She only makes herself seem even more guilty of negligence if she hides her activities, and there are stories that refute her..

But I've got to give it to her "Supporters" turning her into superwoman.. Amazing that in the time it takes to post a tweet from a phone (1-3 mins) she's gone from her back yard, into her house, talked to her 11 year old, then gone searching the house and then outside to the pool.. And apparently starting CPR in 3 mins her supporters sayr.

That didn't include the time it took to get the child to a stable surface for CPR.

*sigh* Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill but it would be easier if she didn't blame everyone else for her own mistakes. Twitter and negligence killed her child, and that's the truth of the matter.

She placed twittering over the safety and well being of her children all day.. and is suffering the consequences.

At least her son is at peace w/ what ever lord he believed in

[tploomis]

01:27 PM on 12/18/2009

People deal with death and shock in different ways.... and that's okay.

[grev3]

01:12 PM on 12/18/2009

I've been accused a time or two of spending too much time online and I understand how online friends can sometimes be as important as real ones. I never lost a child, thank God, and I hate it when people judge others' parenting skills. God forbid you don't act the way everyone thinks you should when it happens to you, people have been convicted for less.

BUT

Unless I read the articles incorrectly, is she not still Twittering, after the fact, calling people ***holes for criticizing her? Seems to me she'd have other things to do at this point in time, no? Maybe it's time to put down the Blackberry, Twitter will still be there after the funeral.

[laaambchop]

01:21 PM on 12/18/2009

maybe she is in shock?

[minusjason]

08:47 AM on 12/18/2009

God, it's so easy to be judgmental when you're not looking someone in the face, isn't it? It's not like she was tweeting while he was drowning. And for someone who truly believes in the power of prayer, it would make total sense to quickly get online and try to get a lot of prayer going on. I personally don't believe in it but try to see things through her eyes. That may have been the best thing she thought she could do at that time. She's not an EMT.

Whether you think it's stupid or not for her to tweet about it, SHE JUST LOST HER BABY BOY. Even if it WAS her fault, you don't tell someone that so soon after the boy died. And none of you geniuses know if it was her fault or not.

[Mr-Mikey]

11:42 AM on 12/18/2009

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/shellie-ross-twitter-mom-tweets-son-death-pool/story?id=9353490

Want to walk back that comment dear?

When my ex's son died (could have been mine) she was devastated, her boyfriend was distraut, and I quite literally went crazy.

She was twittering while her oldest son was on the phone with cops.. AKA.. twittering while her child died.

I can be as judgmental as I want because of this. People needs to put down the twitter and get back to raising their children and living their lives.

[Wendy Piersall]

04:54 PM on 12/18/2009

You might want to walk back YOUR comment:

Homicide investigator: Twittering did not cause Bryson's death

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091217/BREAKINGNEWS/91217033

[laaambchop]

01:47 AM on 12/18/2009

I marked the posts by

edgarcaycedoc and dontomas as favorite because they know...the rest of us should refrain

sympathies to both

[Anna01]

12:52 AM on 12/18/2009

I'm a mom myself and I know even if you watch your child every minute of day, they have a way to hurt themselves on you watch. I also get her tweeting asking for her followers to pray for her little one. What I don't get is her tweet at 11pm. God forbid if it was me, I would be so upset I couldn't function let alone tweeting.

[MeloMelo66]

06:12 AM on 12/18/2009

Maybe she has no friends close by ..just a thought, perhaps twitter is her social circle

[minusjason]

09:23 AM on 12/18/2009

NO we have to imagine the worst possible thing so we will feel assured that we would never let this happen to us. Don't you know how judging works?

[Mr-Mikey]

11:46 AM on 12/18/2009

or maybe, just maybe she has an addiction and a problem.

Nah.. twittering from early morning up to and after the time your son dies isn't an addiction.

It's just life..

No one should have to lose a child, I just wish someone had spoken up sooner about her twittering issues.. She spends or spent all day from early morning responding to twitter comments from her follower.

Time that could have been spent with her family, making friends in the area she just moved into, or perhaps toddler proofing area's such as the swimming pool?

Priorities don't start and end with twitter, no matter how deranged you are.

[JoeGdr]

12:35 AM on 12/18/2009

"... a ten minute check of Twitter can turn into hours."

Really? How sad.

[LeroyJenkins]

11:52 PM on 12/17/2009

women can be so da mn cruel

[CarlyHope]

11:17 PM on 12/17/2009

how could anyone treat a mother who just lost a child that way?

Unforgivable

[bobbuck]

06:34 AM on 12/18/2009

How could a mother pick up a cell phone and start tweeting while losing a child that way?
15 minutes of fame over lady...