aprilhenry (aprilhenry) wrote,
aprilhenry
aprilhenry

Stupid teenage tricks

Is Youtube inadvertently leading to more teens doing dangerous things so they can tape them and then post them online? It seems possible. The New York Times says, “some doctors say that at the very least, the Internet is causing adolescents to ratchet up the danger level. A few weeks ago, Dr. E. Hani Mansour, a burn specialist in Livingston, N.J., treated a teenager who had been severely burned after lighting fireworks. This was not your father’s fireworks accident. The boy had filled the family bathtub with fireworks, covered his body in protective clothing and set up a video camera to record the event. The resulting explosion, which the teenager later said he had hoped to post on YouTube, created a fireball that left the boy with burns on about 14 percent of his body.”

Read more about this disturbing trend here. And just as the Internet might have started the problem, the Internet might also provide the solution, according to a new study. “Megan A. Moreno, an adolescent medicine specialist at the University of Wisconsin, recently conducted a study in which a MySpace persona called Dr. Meg reached out to teenagers who used their pages to boast of drinking or sexual exploits. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked Dr. Meg, who went on to explain why they might want to remove the information. The note also warned them about the risks of sexually transmitted diseases. Teenagers contacted by Dr. Meg were twice as likely to remove references to sex or substance use during the next three months as those who weren’t contacted.”



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