The modern day youth has gained a reputation of being a menace

Growing up in an age of mobile phones, mp3 players, broadband Internet, Internet banking, and DVDs, & information is at your fingertips.
But with this has come the youth that hangs around outside shops with a group of mates at the weekend stereotypically wearing a hoodie and drinking cheap white lightning

The UK government tried to tackle the most problematic youths by introducing ASBOs (Anti Social Behaviour Orders) in the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act and has updated this several times since then.
ASBOs don’t necessarily just apply to youths, but largely they have been the ones issued with them. Have they worked? Depends on your point of view. The cynics say they haven’t because those issued with them tend to turn it on it’s head and brag to their mates and the ASBO gains a badge of honour status. And then there are those who have found that ASBO’s have sorted a local problem and are therefore huge fans. It’s hard to guage.

That aside, there have been several other schemes to stop youths loitering and causing trouble such as the sound that only young people can hear that is designed to repel troublemakers. It’s supposed to work on the principle that as we get older we lose the ability to hear higher sound frequencies, and this noise is too high a frequency for adults to hear. You can download the sound and see if you can hear it it’s supposed to sound like a mosquito. According to the report it was a large success at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon.

The theory has again been turned on it’s head with The ringtone that those over 25 can’t hear. My hearing is fairly shoddy anyway because I had surgery on both my ears aged 3 and 10-15 years of loud rock music have taken their toll. I couldn’t hear the mosquito one, but could faintly hear the ringtone – to me it sounds a bit like one of those hearing tests I did when I was at school. See how good your ears are with the mp3 link on the page. Notice that they’ve conveniently missed out the 25-30 age range on the chart though, so they could get a convenient straight line descent with age!

While I was in Boston in September, I was watching a bit of CNN, and they reiterated the story of how the UK has more CCTV cameras than anywhere in the world and supplemented it with a story from Middlesborough. They’ve started a scheme where the camera operators can Speak to the people who they are watching. I don’t know about you, but to me it’s a bit much, and further evidence of the Nanny State that we are increasingly living in. Things like banning Fast Food adverts between children’s programmes don’t do much to change my view on this.

But enough of my side-track, onto the next one which I heard about last week.
New lights make faces and acne shine pink – couldn’t find a bbc story on this so you’ll have to have the trashy tabloid the daily mail as the source!
They did a test of it on radio the other day and they suggested it didn’t work particularly well, but we’ll have to wait and see the results

And of course, a rant about youths wouldn’t be complete without a story about teenage drinking on the rise and the obligatory Child aged nine admitted to hospital unconscious from alcohol. I made a note of this yesterday because it’s going to be shown on tv tomorrow and they’re claiming the figures came from the NHS (so i’m interested in where it came from):

Panorama’s Booze: What Teenagers Need to Know will be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday 19 November at 2215 GMT.

So, we’re using technology to tackle the problem, giving special powers to give out ASBOs, and drinking in teenagers is on the rise.
I was no model youth, and was underage drinking when I was a teenager. But I wasn’t being told I was acting antisocially, wasn’t drinking until I was hauled into an ambulance (though I came pretty close while I was at subway city at university). Is it all the teenager’s fault, or should the ASBO go to the parents to sort their child out? I dunno, but it always strikes me that those who get into this sort of mess are given an unfair start which they never make up for. Just my 2¢ worth plus a lot of links to keep you busy