Trolling makes us all Truman

Augmented reality is also now beginning to make its presence felt. Devices like the ingenious Google Glass offer to inform almost every step we take in the street and, if we like, to record those steps for future posterity via life-logging.

In so many ways, our internet engagement has become a large chunk of our real lives.

Arguably, more than a few of us are in the process of becoming something like a central character in our own Truman Show – except, of course, that in our case we are turning the invisible cameras on ourselves.

Luddism is not the solution here. The internet has brought so many benefits and most of us wouldn't dream of trying to turn back the digital clock.

Yet we must constantly remind ourselves that our technologies must be made to serve us and never allowed to define us.

That realisation sadly came too late for Ms Leyland. For those who knew her, hopefully, her entire life will not be defined by the manner of her death or by the furore that preceded it.

Hopefully, too, those of us who did not know her will look within our own selves, pausing to consider the ancient maxim: 'Life and death are in the power of the tongue.'