LUKE MARSDEN - Where does the blame lie over Caroline Flack's tragic death

I’m sure like many people across the country you felt numb when you read the news of how she died. At first, I thought it was fake news, too awful to be true.

When looking back at the past few days it has made me question accountability and where blame lies - social media, her friends, her employers, her agents or herself?

I think we all need to accept some accountability for someone feeling so overwhelmed by the intrusion into her life that she decided she couldn’t take anymore. I’m not just talking about the ‘mainstream media’ as it has been branded but anyone who has the ability to broadcast anything.

Anyone who has a Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or a TikTok account, we are all ‘the media’.

What can be done? Would cancelling Love Island really help? As I said on TV this week, I do now think the time is right to cancel Love Island almost as a precaution (not that it was directly linked to what happened to Caroline) but it will help to stop creating a picture of perfection and a post-show lifestyle that isn’t sustainable.

According to the screen-time app on my phone, I spend nearly four hours a day on social media.

That cannot possibly be healthy. Ironically social media has become far less social these days, and nobody felt that more than Caroline Flack.

She had a trial by Twitter, people cast judgement without really knowing any facts.

The #bekind movement online is gathering momentum and rightfully so, I think we can all try a little harder to be kind both on and offline.

We spend so much of our lives looking down at our phones but is it not about time we look up and remember that real life is looking right back at us and it doesn’t need a filter or a like button. It’s easier said than done but we’ve got to try, right?