Dangerous Youth Activities

Hi Everybody!

Well, as some of you know I’ve been reading a lot of books lately concerning healing and deliverance so today’s post is more in respect to gathering information to keep Parents in particular well-informed about the crazy trends that youth are facing today. Some of these activities you may be aware of already and some of them are completely news to me. All of these activities listed below are from ivillage.com if you want to read up on them yourself.

I did a post earlier this year about the story of a 16 year old ex- cutter that is a trend that teens are becoming more adepted at concealing. All I can say is that when it comes to healing and deliverance ministry and intercession as a whole, the most important thing for all of us to do when counseling someone is first get educated about the trends that are out there and then assess the types of activities or behaviours that someone has been engaging with in order to pray strategically, and/or direct the person to proper resources for professional help. You can only do this by gathering information and educating yourself about these strange activities that are evolving as technology keeps advancing and as teens and children experiment with new crazy ideas that soon become fads.

Disclaimer: This post is in no way an exhaustive list because there are probably new fads popping up everyday that we may not even be aware of, but we’ve got to start somewhere and become more educated with the stuff that’s bombarding children today. The information gathered here is written by Brooke Showell posted in ivillage.com so all the credit goes to her in this guest post.

May this information provided here help parents to become more vigilant in protecting their kids and teaching them the dangers of engaging in these kinds of activities.

Knowledge is power and wisdom preserves LIFE.

God bless you everybody and may you grow wiser in your own daily affairs as well as you become informed of the changing trends and fads that are costing people’s lives.

Ecclesiastes 7:12
For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense, But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.

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Here are a list of 20 Activities that you should be aware of if you aren’t already.

Teens Drinking Hand Sanitizer –

via plus.google.com

Many germaphobes are addicted to hand sanitizer every time they shake hands, sneeze or touch a subway pole, but some teens looking for a cheap high are using it in a highly disturbing new way. Kids are actually getting drunk off the over-the-counter cleanser, according to the Los Angeles Times — most formulas contain 62 percent ethyl alcohol, and using salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer yields a potent 120-proof shot. After a few drinks, a person might be so drunk that medical intervention is necessary, as was the case with six teenagers with alcohol poisoning who checked into the emergency room at two hospitals in San Fernando Valley, CA. Although it’s currently a small problem, health officials worry the behavior might indicate a more widespread, dangerous trend, as teens have been known to use other household items like mouthwash or cough syrup to produce a buzz. If parents buy hand sanitizer, experts advise using the foam version (versus the gel type) because it’s harder to extract the alcohol.

via sandboxworld.com

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Car Surfing –

Car Surfing is back in the news again after a 16-year-old Florida girl suffered a massive brain injury while attempting it, according to TODAY. Teenage Hannah Huntoon was trying to ride on the trunk of a friend’s car while holding onto the rear-window windshield wiper and fell off. In other incidents of the dangerous and illegal trend, kids have climbed on top of the roof or trunk of a moving car like they’re surfing. Not only is the unrestrained surfer in danger, but the situation can get even more grave if the driver loses control or just  follows the turns of the road. The result: A serious, potentially fatal accident.

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The Choking Game –

via parent24.com

It’s been around for years, and it’s still deadly as ever. Kids literally strangle themselves using either an object like a belt or a rope or their own hands to experience a momentary high. They can pass out and hurt themselves, cause brain damage or even death. And if all that isn’t enough to keep you up at night, a new study conducted by the Oregon Public Health Division reports that middle school kids who play the “Choking Game” (also known as Knock Out, Space Monkey, Flat-lining or the Fainting Game) are more likely to try other worrisome activities. The study showed that 6 percent of the state’s teens admitted to playing this so-called game, boys and girls seemed to participate more or less equally, and participants were more likely to be sexually active and drug abusers. What’s more, girls who copped to playing were more apt to gamble and eat poorly, while boys were more likely to be exposed to violence. The study’s lead researcher, Robert Nystrom, recommends parents be on alert for warning signs of the game, including unusual marks on the neck, red dots around the eyelids (a sign of hemorrhaging) and unexplained headaches. To learn more, parents can visit Games Adolescents Shouldn’t Play (GASP), a group that aims to raise awareness of — and put an end to — the game for good.

via plankingolympics.com

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Planking

The trend seems harmless enough at first: “Planking” involves lying face-down on the ground in an unexpected place and then uploading a picture to Facebook or a blog to share with the world. And some of it is innocent, with teens and twenty-somethings posting pictures of themselves face-planted on tree branches and lawns. What isn’t: Kids who raise the ante with photos taken in dangerous places — on a rooftop, an escalator, or, as in the recent case of a 20-year-old who just died while planking, balanced on a terrace railing seven stories high. Australian Acton Beale is reportedly the first person to die from planking.

via believe-or-not.blogspot.com

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Vodka Eyeballing

Parents are usually concerned about their college students doing more shots than studying, but the New York Daily News recently reported on a worrisome new drinking trend of “vodka eyeballing.” Partying co-eds tilt back their heads and have a vodka shot poured onto their eye, which gives a quick buzz when the alcohol enters the bloodstream through veins at the back of the eye. This stunt seems to have come from outlandish Las Vegas nightclubs, but has made its way onto university campuses. Not only does the idea sound not-so-smart, but doctors are concerned about possible long-term damage to the sensitive eye area, like scarring and impaired vision.

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Purple Drank –

Purple drank is a legal and lethal concoction of Sprite, Jolly Ranchers and codeine cough syrup. Rappers, hip-hop artists and pro athletes have made this fad cool and brought it into the mainstream. Lil’ Wayne has been photographed with his “purple” filled cup, Johnny Jolly of the Green Bay Packers was reportedly drinking it in 2009 while driving, and Jim Marcus Russell of the Oakland Raiders was arrested for possession of codeine syrup without a prescription. There’s even a style of music for “leaners” to listen to — it’s slowed down to mirror the effects of the drink, which are unresponsiveness, lethargy, hallucination and a slow-mo zombie feeling.

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Rainbow Parties

Trust us, this isn’t as innocent as it sounds. Basically, a group of girls, each wearing a different lipstick color, performs oral sex on one or multiple guys. By the time the last girl is done, the boy’s nether region is decorated like a rainbow. Needless to say this kind of partying could transmit STDs and start a lot of unhealthy rumors.

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Twilight-inspired fad: Biting

Remember love bites, aka hickeys? Well, some teens are taking this to a whole new, literal level. CNN.com reports that a bite mark can be a status symbol in some cliques. (What ever happened to a love note or a friendly card?) Many of these bites involve breaking the skin and passing blood from one teen to the other, adding the chance of infection or worse.

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Synthetic Marijuana (Spice or K2)

The worst part about these herb-based, marijuana wanna bes? They’re totally legal. Thought to give a similar high to smoking pot, these products are not regulated and the smoker could be inhaling toxic or poisonous contaminants. The DEA declared an emergency effort, banning the five main ingredients used in these synthetic drugs. According to MSNBC.com, makers of the faux Mary Jane have already started finding new chemicals to avoid the ban.

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Spice and K2

The Ball Tapping Game

Remember dead leg? You would hit someone as hard as you could in his thigh and run. Well, this is similar and don’t let its childlike name fool you. The idea of the ball-tapping game is to “tap” someone in the, well, balls…hard, real hard. Gawker.com reported on a boy who had to have a testicle removed due to the intensity of a tapping game he partook in. Warn your son that even though this sounds like a test of his manliness, it could challenge his manly ability to have children someday. What ever happened to good, old-fashioned noogies, wedgies and Indian burns?

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Twitter Organized Flash Mobs

Some “flash mobs,” public gatherings that are usually organized on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, are pretty peaceful and fun. Many have been immortalized on YouTube and show large groups of people doing anything from dancing in train stations to having pillow fights in public squares. But this trend recently turned violent when teenagers in the Philadelphia area organized a flash mob on Twitter that injured several people and led to three arrests. Teenagers vandalized property and attacked onlookers while police enforced a curfew. Local authorities pointed to a lack of jobs and after-school programs for kids, but most talked about a lack of parent involvement. Talk to your kids about what they’re doing on the internet—and where they’re heading when they walk out the door.

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Using Chatroulette.com

ChatRoulette.com—a way for kids to anonymously video chat online with anyone, without any security blocks or filters—is a parent’s nightmare. The site automatically pairs you with a stranger when you log on. If you don’t want to chat with that person, you can skip to another, likewise anonymous, video chatter. Users have reported seeing disturbing images on other people’s webcams, including nudity, and people specifically looking for sex. The site is easy to use and doesn’t feature any way to protect kids from adult content or worse, from predators. Talk to your kids about ChatRoulette.com, and remember that you can use your computer’s security settings to block the site. An even easier way to prevent your kids from using ChatRoulette.com? Disable or take away your computer’s webcam. Your kids won’t be able to use the site without it.

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Posting Racy Photos online

Kids might think their questionable online photos are “private” just because they choose certain privacy settings. Two high school girls from Indianapolis learned the hard way that this isn’t always the case. When someone passed their racy (and supposedly “private”) MySpace photos along to school administrators, the school took action, banning the girls from sports and making them apologize to the coaches’ board. Now the girls are suing, saying that their freedom of speech was violated. Other kids have faced expulsion or lost scholarships over online photos. A 14-year-old New Jersey girl was even hit with child pornography charges after posting nude photos of herself on MySpace.

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Smoking Smarties

YouTube videos feature tutorials of kids “smoking” Smarties candy—or crushing them up and inhaling (and exhaling) the dust, anyway. The practice itself isn’t dangerous (except in rare cases when the dust can clog nasal passages), but mimicking the gestures of smoking cigarettes or illegal drugs should be enough to make parents pay attention.

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The Body Spray Flamethrower

We’re not sure why kids are using Axe body spray in particular for this prank. Theoretically this will work with any aerosol. Teens created a makeshift “flamethrower” by spraying this body spray and holding a lighter up to the stream. Smelly? You bet. Dangerous? Absolutely. Like smoking smarties, there are lots of “tutorials” on how to do this on YouTube.

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Sexting

With the digital age came this phenomenon: kids sending sexually explicit pictures of themselves to friends, partners and crushes. Teens might not see the seriousness, but sexting can have major social and now legal repercussions. Some states have gone so far as to charge kids who send explicit text messages with pornography violations. And in one high profile case, Ohio teen Jessica Logan committed suicide after an ex-boyfriend circulated a nude photo of her throughout their high school.

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Train and Car surfing

Here’s how it works: Kids ride on top of a moving vehicle while hanging onto the roof or sides. Needless to say, this incredibly dangerous stunt has resulted in a number of deaths and serious injuries, and it’s not just limited to cars. Kids have tried surfing the roofs of trains and subways, too. The Centers for Disease Control identified 99 car surfing deaths between 1990 and 2008.

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Google Earth Pool Crashing

Kids are using Google Earth to locate homes with swimming pools in their neighborhoods. Then they send texts or Facebook invites to all their friends and stage impromptu pool parties. This phenomenon is most popular in the UK, where one bewildered pool owner woke up to find beer cans littering his yard.

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Datura Flower Abuse (aka moonflower)

This common plant, also known as Angel’s Trumpet or Jimson Weed, can get kids high when ingested, but it’s also incredibly toxic. Even small doses can send kids to the hospital with serious illness and eating too much can cause death. Because the flower grows all across North America, overdose cases are widespread.

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Trunking

Most states have laws that prohibit kids from driving with passengers when they first get their licenses. Some kids have chosen to get around the law—or just cram more passengers into their cars—by trunking, or allowing one or more passengers to ride inside the trunk. After two teens were killed while trunking in 2005, California passed a law banning the practice.

 

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SOURCE:  http://www.ivillage.com/dangerous-teen-fads-you-should-know-about/6-b-141376#ixzz21pjjttWI