I was struck by the sheer length of the list of school shootings Piper posted. I knew I'd heard the story far too many times; seeing the list was a real eye-opener. Not sure it can be solved, but we definitely have a big issue here.

Sol Duc referred to a statistic indicating that a person's odds of getting struck by lightning multiple times is more likely than being a victim in a shooting like this. As a father of three students, I think those odds are unacceptably high.

The scary thing for me is that I can remember what it's like to feel alienated or misunderstood (can't we all remember feeling that way at least once in high school?). I recall pondering, if only for a moment, doing something rash to make myself heard or make everyone sorry they didn't treat me better. Young adulthood is probably the stage of our lives during which we are most emotionally fragile. It's also the stage where we start to become increasingly aware of the injustices life throws our way on a regular basis. For some, it seems those stresses become too much to bear. The line between those individuals and the ones who make it through without lashing out is becoming frighteningly thin.

So why is this stuff so much more common in the Information Age? I'm not sure, but I think the Internet becoming the preferred medium for person to person communication has played a significant role. As has been noted in this thread, there generally seems to be a social media post or a person to person text string that provides clues that something like this might be coming. As this forum demonstrates (to our great joy), it's a lot easier to summon the courage to write mean, degrading things about people than it is to insult people face to face. This means a lot more damaging things get "said." Often, it also means a much larger audience sees what has been "said" and feels obliged to pile on. The victim can literally count the number of "friends" who have made antagonistic posts. Seems to me the "proof" that "nobody likes me" could be much harder for a young person to get past than a few things a couple people said (AFTER applying the face to face filter, which usually makes the message less harsh) but that they will never need to hear (or read) again.

The other thing the Information Age assures a person who makes the choice to commit such an act (also pointed out by others) is instantaneous, worldwide publication of his/her story and enough media attention to make his/her name infamous (which is just as good as famous when all you want is attention).

Violent video games probably make it easier for some of these misguided individuals to visualize mass acts of violence, but I think their role is probably small, relative to the emotional bullying young people subject each other to. Bullying has always been there. I think it was just easier for young victims to convince themselves that one bully's feelings about them didn't represent everyone else's feelings in the days before everyone else had a way to pile on their own insults, in a place where the victim can read all the hate, over and over, until they fully believe nobody likes them.