Peer pressure is, and always has been, a pretty sketchy thing—especially if you’re a teen. Even the stupidest choices in the world can seem cool if enough of your friends are doing it. It was that way when I was a kid and it’s especially true today. Why, “especially” you ask? Well, because of a little thing called the Internet.
Now, wait, wait. Don’t roll your eyes and sign off quite yet. This isn’t just another rant about teens on the Web. Well … it is another rant, but not just another rant. Let’s call it more of a rumination on stupid in today’s techy abundance.
Have you heard of this thing called a California Knockout? It’s one of the latest less-than-bright activities that you can find illustrated in abundance on YouTube. It has to do with kids trying to get a quick high by hyperventilating while squatting and then gulping a lung full of air, standing quickly and having someone push on their chest to cut the blood flow to their brain. The videos show kids keeling over while their peers hoot and holler about how crazy it is to see someone thump unconscious to the floor.
Sounds like great summer fun, doesn’t it? No, of course not. It sounds, well, stupid. And that’s without even considering the seizures that have been reported, the potential brain damage you risk, or the physical thumps, abrasions and bone breakage that can come from slamming down to the ground if your laughing pals forget to catch you.
Now these foolish choices can’t be entirely blamed on YouTube or the Internet, of course. Google execs don’t sit around trying to dream up ways of hurting kids. But it’s obvious that the spread of these vids certainly fans the peer pressure fires. Doesn’t it look so strangely cool? these videos seem to ask, while daring skittish viewers with a snide, You’re not a wimp, are you?
These days, peer pressure can come from anywhere. It’s not just the kids down the street coming over with a rusted-out bike or a fist full of M-80s and doing the daring anymore. “Peers” can now be those car-surfing idiots from across the state, around the country, and on the other side of the world. There are so many more potential sources of stupid to tap.
I often think these techy connections just make it flat-out more difficult to be a kid. And they certainly make it more challenging to be an adult. Parents have to stay all the more diligent, all the more aware, and make sure they’re all the more vocal about what is or isn’t a wise choice.
There once was a time when Mom could talk some sense into a crazy thick skull by saying something like, “If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too?” Nowadays, though, the kids could come up with at least three videos of their pals taking that leap.
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