I just hope my kids make friends that aren't silly enough to try these stunts...... its not nice growing up knowing a friend died from doing something that common sense should let them avoid........

Kids have done stupid stuff since forever.

Forty odd years ago when I was a kid in small town NZ there was the brothers who were playing with an axe betting they could pull their hand off the chopping block before the axe landed. They couldn't.

There was the kid who took pot shots with a slug gun at the next door policeman while he was up fixing his roof.

There was the kid who threw an apple out the windows of a moving bus and took out the eye of a guy driving past on a tractor.

The last part of a kids brain to develop is the prefrontal cortex which "controls the ability to plan and think about the consequences of actions, solve problems and control impulses". 

The only difference between now and then is that none of these stories made it to local or national paper and stupid ideas generally didn't have  a way to spread to other kids.   

MikeB4:

 

Geektastic:

 

Darwin Awards in the making there.

 

 

 

One day these morons will be MPs etc - THAT is most worrying.

 

 

Making flippant heartless comments about this is disgusting. 

 

Oh give it a rest, Mike. These are grade A morons without two braincells to rub together. It's a level of stupidity that makes you wonder how they manage to get through the day.

Cool? - sounds pretty hot to me.

There are some shameful comments on this thread, one or two of you need have a word with yourselves.

martyyn:

 

There are some shameful comments on this thread, one or two of you need have a word with yourselves.

 

You have the right to be offended, and you clearly are which is great! Exercising your rights! 
But you don't need to go telling people what they should think of themselves for their own opinion. 

Personally, I wholeheartedly support issuing more Darwin Awards! Humans are an invasive pest, if they remove themselves at their own discretion then I have no issue with that. 

Some friends of mine buried their 15 year old son a few months ago. He was smart, intelligent, funny and well loved by his peers and family. We'll never know why he did what he did, maybe he saw something online, may some mates dared him.

I sincerely hope none of you or your families ever have to experience the same.

Making light of what is an extremely complex issue is not something to be done online.

martyyn:

 

Some friends of mine buried their 15 year old son a few months ago. He was smart, intelligent, funny and well loved by his peers and family. We'll never know why he did what he did, maybe he saw something online, may some mates dared him.

 

I sincerely hope none of you or your families ever have to experience the same.

 

Making light of what is an extremely complex issue is not something to be done online.

 

 

 

In the last 4 years I have buried 6 close friends. Some were the black dog, one was health and two were acts of idiocy in motor vehicles, in addition to that, last week I lost a cousin to this .
I'd never wish that experience on a single soul on this planet, its absolutely disgusting. Life is precious. 
Yes, it is sad some people make the logical decision to put their own lives at risk, and frankly the consequences are quite grim and I have no sympathy for that person if they do. Ya know if my mate wasn't doing 200KPH+ on Greville he'd most likely be alive like his passenger who just made it through. 

Coil:

 

Yes, it is sad some people make the logical decision to put their own lives at risk, and frankly the consequences are quite grim and I have no sympathy for that person if they do. 

 

And that's it right there. You're assuming the individual is capable of judging the consequences of their actions in any given situation.

The areas of the brain which deal with decision making, impulse control and understanding consequences aren't fully developed until the mid-20's. Add in the fact kids, I'm 47 so everyone is a kid now, are less likely to make good decisions if they are being pushed by their friends and stupid stuff will happen. Social media takes it's to another level completely.

Kids (and adults) do some stupid stuff, just don't brand them as idiots who deserve to die simply because their brains are incapable of making what you consider to be a "logical" decision.

martyyn:

 

Coil:

 

Yes, it is sad some people make the logical decision to put their own lives at risk, and frankly the consequences are quite grim and I have no sympathy for that person if they do. 

 

 

And that's it right there. You're assuming the individual is capable of judging the consequences of their actions in any given situation.

 

The areas of the brain which deal with decision making, impulse control and understanding consequences aren't fully developed until the mid-20's. Add in the fact kids, I'm 47 so everyone is a kid now, are less likely to make good decisions if they are being pushed by their friends and stupid stuff will happen. Social media takes it's to another level completely.

 

Kids (and adults) do some stupid stuff, just don't brand them as idiots who deserve to die simply because their brains are incapable of making what you consider to be a "logical" decision.

 

I get your view point and I agree with some aspects of it. I have had mates convince me to do things in motorvehicles that would possibly end in death or severe injury, I still did it. Looking back now there is no way I would. That would more fall under the category of what you are saying.

Humans have been afraid of fire, water and sudden noise etc for a long time, probably before we had written and spoken languages. If they cannot figure that they shouldn't light themselves on fire then we have a much larger issue at hand and I have very little faith in their judgement and survival of the fittest/strongest continues.

martyyn: Kids (and adults) do some stupid stuff, just don't brand them as idiots who deserve to die simply because their brains are incapable of making what you consider to be a "logical" decision.

If you justify their act's by way of their incompletely developed brains, are you not normalising and accepting the problem? Will normalising the problem do anything but encourage it?

Peer pressure is a powerful thing that can work for good and bad. By allowing "positive" peer pressure (ie don't do what those guys did") you are discouraging the problem, and using a method other than ineffective logic to dissuade people incapable of making good decisions from setting them selves on fire or driving at 200kph on public roads.

We've all done stupid stuff in our youth and how many times has it been because you wanted to impress someone ?

Evolution might be a great thing when it comes to noises in the dark, tigers and fire but it doesn't stand a chance with the social media driven "like me, like me" culture we now live in.

The pull to be in the right crowd is not just the amongst the kids on your street, in your class, or even at school, it's worldwide now.

I recently found my 15 year old son had 1300 friends on Instagram within a month of having an account. I doubt I've met 1300 people in my life. I'd checked his account because he had liked a questionable photo and it showed up on my feed. When asked he said he'd done it simply because some kid, who is a friend of a friend of a friend (yes that far removed) had liked it and he wanted to be friends with this guy. "He looked like a nice guy when I was flicking through my friends friends" is what he said.

We've talked to our son about sex and porn (and physical violence) since forever. My wife is a family lawyer and she sees things that make your eyes water. Raising a son who is respectful to women is the single most important thing in our lives, but it didn't stop him because he didn't know it would end up on my feed, or his mothers, his sisters, his cousins, his aunts and uncles or his even his football coaches. How can you expect a 15 year boy to think of all that when most adults don't understand it ?

I consider myself to be pretty tech-savvy and do everything I can to educate my kids, but the power SM has over peoples lives these days genuinely scares me.

tripper1000:

 

martyyn: Kids (and adults) do some stupid stuff, just don't brand them as idiots who deserve to die simply because their brains are incapable of making what you consider to be a "logical" decision.

 

If you justify their act's by way of their incompletely developed brains, are you not normalising and accepting the problem? Will normalising the problem do anything but encourage it?

 

Peer pressure is a powerful thing that can work for good and bad. By allowing "positive" peer pressure (ie don't do what those guys did") you are discouraging the problem, and using a method other than ineffective logic to dissuade people incapable of making good decisions from setting them selves on fire or driving at 200kph on public roads.

 

I'm not saying it's an excuse for the behaviour, but it's an explaination for it. Big difference.

martyyn:

 

tripper1000:

 

martyyn: Kids (and adults) do some stupid stuff, just don't brand them as idiots who deserve to die simply because their brains are incapable of making what you consider to be a "logical" decision.

 

If you justify their act's by way of their incompletely developed brains, are you not normalising and accepting the problem? Will normalising the problem do anything but encourage it?

 

Peer pressure is a powerful thing that can work for good and bad. By allowing "positive" peer pressure (ie don't do what those guys did") you are discouraging the problem, and using a method other than ineffective logic to dissuade people incapable of making good decisions from setting them selves on fire or driving at 200kph on public roads.

 

 

I'm not saying it's an excuse for the behaviour, but it's an explaination for it. Big difference.

 

This. I don't think any of us are asking for the behaviour to be understood, but perhaps judged less harshly. Also a little compassion.