I’m all for adrenaline thrills from snowboarding to roller coasters, but too often today, young people attempt to get that rush or thrill by extremely dangerous, and often deadly methods.
Yesterday, Malibu Police spent the day searching for Johnny Strange after he was seen car-surfing on Pacific Coast Highway.
Car-surfing is a thrill seeking sport of sorts, in which an individual mounts a moving car, and rides it at excessive speeds.
Strange, a 18-year-old student going to Malibu High School, was driven by a fellow schoolmate who did not yet have her license.
Strange, well-known for being the youngest person climbing the Seven Summits (the seven highest peaks on each continent) at the age of 17.
The driver is going to be charged with reckless driving and Strange will be charged with riding outside of a vehicle.
It seems today’s youth is no longer entertained through films, video games and sports as I was in high school, but rather by death-defying feats.
If cars aren’t enough to surf on, young people all over the world are now even becoming attracted to train surfing.
Just last week, a British youth, was found dead near some train tracks near Newcastle in the United Kingdom.
The teenager is thought to have been surfing on a coal train and may have tripped trying to get off the train, resulting in his death.
It’s absolutely astounding to me that such young people are making such stupid decisions just for a thrill.
These ideas don’t just come out of nowhere and many of these dangerous games are being advertised through the Internet and YouTube.
An equally disturbing, yet popular game among young people to find that thrill of adrenaline rush is the choking game.
In 2010 alone, there have been 21 cases where an individual involved in the game was either injured or died, and of those 21 cases 17 resulted in death.
This game involves either having someone choke you or choking yourself in order to blackout or pass out to achieve some form of pleasure.
According to Medscape.com, the last area of the brain to develop is the prefrontal cortex, which mainly deals with decision-making and rational brain functions.
I can understand that younger people make poor decisions, but the efforts these people are taking to get that adrenaline high are just outlandish.
Whatever happened to the good old days of seeing a scary movie, or going to a theme park?
When I was in high school, taking part in activities where I might die never sounded like a good idea. Apparently kids these days are making worse and worse decisions.
It’s depressing that individuals today have to ultimately threaten their own lives in order to entertain themselves.
Coming back to Strange, who was confronted by the police yesterday at his school, it’s hard to believe such an individual with accomplishments like his could make such a poor decision.
I have to believe that for someone who has climbed the seven highest peaks on the planet, this choice of riding on top of a car wasn’t one he would normally make.
“I guess I was being stupid,” Strange said after the police approached him yesterday.
Yeah Johnny, you were.