Our Kids Are In Danger

Saw the last few minutes of the O'Reilly Factor. Apparently, there is a relatively new game played by our youth that involves "borderline asphyxiation" by intentional hanging, or choking. The temporary deprivation of blood and oxygen to the brain, followed by a rush of blood to the head supposedly creates some sort of high. The game has an underground following. There are even websites, with instructions and probably chat rooms, on the subject. Most parents aren't aware of its existence. O'Reilly interviewed a mother who had lost her 13 year-old kid to this game. She had even warned him of the consequences, but he didn't listen. He accidently hung himself.

Why on God's green earth would a kid play such a rotten game? I know that kids are prone to do all kinds of things--a kid's developing brain is like a sponge, searching for new sensations and experiences to absorb. It is human nature to go out into the world and discover all there is to discover. When I was a kid, some of the reckless things I did were as follows:

-threw rocks at wasps nests (or used garden hose). Why? Just to piss them off, I guess.
-killed honeybees with my bare hands (killed about ten before I got stung; then I quit).
-tried to drink water out of a cactus (got a mouthful of microscopic thorns)
-threw rocks on unspent bullets to see what would happen
-threw toads as high as I could, above asphalt
-shot a bunch of birds with my BB gun
-burned ants w/ magnifying lens
-made prank calls to people
-I had a short streak of theft (stole a seashell from the third-grade classroom) and a classmates notepad; also candy cigarettes from 7-11 (thank God this habit didn't stick)

I guess with the passage of time, this level of pranksterism is minor league. Looks like the new generation wants more exciting and riskier activities. The new generation of kids are growing up with PCs, cell phones, iPods, X-Boxes, digital cameras, etc., etc. In my generation, Atari and PacMan video games were the most hi-tech activities available. Today's kids gobble up the new technology, get bored once the novely wears off, and search for the next big thing.

Here's what parents need to do: TAKE AWAY YOUR KIDS' ELECTRONIC GADGETS, GET THEM AWAY FROM THE INTERNET, AND MAKE THEM GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY. What ever happened to street football, baseball, and basketball? When was the last time you saw a bunch of kids riding bicycles together? The streets are empty on Sundays, because the kids are either playing video games or are surfing the web. They are also getting fat in the process. There is a study that found that several hours of watching the changing screens of a computer terminal has a narcotic effect similar to marijuana. It changes the brainwaves somehow. Maybe this plays a role in today's kids' bizzare behavior. These kids represent our future. We can't afford to allow them to turn into a bunch of techno freaks who are not in touch with real life. So if you are a parent, you need to break your kid(s) off this techno-addiction.