By Jessica Staggs – Copy Editor
Parents have long blamed movies, music, television and video games as the source of teenage violence. It seems to me, however, that a Hollywood production has much less of an impact than home videos posted on the Internet by other teens. Journey to YouTube and search the word ‘fight.’ You will receive over 4,500 responses.
Last year, my hometown was ripe with gossip surrounding Jeremy Brown, one of my former classmates. Jeremy was arrested on charges of burglary, vandalism, and harassment after he and some other students posted a series of videos on youtube.com. These videos featured a range of acts, anywhere from throwing gallons of milk on the floor in a supermarket, to antagonizing fast-food workers, to breaking into an abandoned mansion. Jeremy ended up taking most of the blame, as he was the only person involved who was over the age of eighteen. [See news story from FOXNews.com]
More recently, eight teenagers were arrested on charges of battery and false imprisonment. The teens ambushed a so-called friend as she entered one of the girls’ home, beating her until she passed out, then resuming the beating after she regained consciousness. The main evidence in the case? A tape made by the attackers, which they were presumably going to post on YouTube.
I am more inclined to blame Internet than movies, music, or games. Why? The videos on the Internet are made by and feature other teens. The need to belong is becoming more prominent in American society, as the emphasis on family unity is slowly discombobulating.
2 Comments
April 9, 2008 at 1:35 am
I personally think that a lot of the time video games are used as excuses why our kids misbehave. They should be taught from an early age that games are not reality, and that responsibility lies with the parents not the video game producers.
April 11, 2008 at 3:01 am
I certainly agree that internet videos such as those accessed on YouTube are having a significant impact on teens. As a youth minister, I know for a fact that most of the group spends hours watching clips about just about any subject you can think of. Many school internet systems are furthering this because of their proxy system, which blocks things like MySpace and Facebook but not YouTube.