Myspace and Youtube: What are the kids sharing?
 

My middle schooler's classmate got caught choking herself today.

When my daughter told me this, I thought of those who practice auto-asphysxiation and thought they were trying to 'get off' in the bathroom or something. Turns out that a friend of a friend sent these youtube links to other friends. My daughter called it California Dreaming and told me that most of her friends had been doing it. I was able to find several videos of certain groups doing it to themselves or one another, laughing their asses off. (I won't post them as I'm not certain of the ages of the people in them.)

These 13 and 14 year old kids see these videos and think it's a good time. Although I monitor my kids online activities and they are barred from certain sites, I never thought of youtube as a dangerous place to be. I will definitely be having a talk with my girls this evening, but I know there are many parents that won't even bother.

I wanted to alert those who are parents of young teens. I think of myself as a pretty savvy mom, but since I had no clue, I'm wondering what else might be out there that we need to watch out for.

All I can say is I'm glad my kids are straight edge and proud.

What do you think? How can we protect our kids without stunting their growth? Doesn't it make you wonder what else is out there?

Kids were doing that 15 years ago. I remember kids choking themselves out on the school bus and in the bathroom when I was in elementary school. It's been around way longer than Youtube. Get with the program, grandma. :-D

Also, I'm just joking. I was just thinking about how I'm scared for the next generation of internet "memes" and how they're going to warp my children if I ever have any. I wish I knew the solution, but I think the solution going forward will be to ban them from ever using the Internet until they're 21.

yeah and I was doing it almost 25 years ago....

seriously I don't know what kids will find acceptable to do or not do because they "saw it on the internet"

i just did a search and found some girl filming some girl filming some guy wearing a mask and talking in a robotic voice. the funny part was it looked like she´d busted in on some intimate moment...

There really isn't much a parent can do to shelter their kids from things as dangerous as choking. Curiosity coupled with inexperience is what makes children children.

Sheltering doesn't work because restrictions only foster curiosity. And while it's much easier said than done - teaching your kids the value of trust and the consequences of their actions by giving them a little room and following through with punishment when they slip up would be a much more successful effort.

Besides, YouTube is filled with teens who love to dance it up in their underwear, Myspace is littered with spoof pages that lead to various adult sites, Flickr is loaded with swingers groups who love to share pictures from their xxx adventures....and as more and more sites start to incorporate videos and some form of social networking - it'll only get worse.

As Jinn alluded to, there's no such thing as safe surfing.

puritanical society is a thing of the past.

I remember almost 20 years ago in middle school kids were doing the same thing, long before youtube and/or myspace. It's just one of those weird things that gets passed down and kids try.

I don't remember ever hearing about this when I was kid. We tried to hold our breath for as long as possible, but choking each other? Not a chance.

I've got a neck thing, touch my neck and my reflexes are to punch, kick....bite...whatever it takes. Reaction from having a knife stuck to my throat years ago.

I can't imagine doing this choking stuff, too each his own i guess...until someone gets hurt or goes all INXS and then it hits Dateline TV and is then in our faces until the next story.

Talk to your kids, tell them the dangers and hope for the best.

I knew a kid around 15 years ago who actually had a problem with choking himself - he had to go to a clinic and get help for it. I'm sure there was more of a problem than the choking, but I suppose it just manifested itself. He's the only person that I ever knew who did it growing up - none of my friends did it, and I certainly never would have though of anything so stupid.

The internet complicates things, but in the end, kids are going to be kids. If it isn't this it's something else. The job of a parent has always been the same: prepare your kids for these things in a healthy, intelligent way and allow them to make smart decisions.

Not each other, kids chocking themselves until they pass out. Kids used to do it all the time when I was 11-14 years old.

Choking themselves? Doesn't this go against human nature to survive?

This seems really strange to me. But can it honestly cause any harm? Wont you just start breathing again as soon as your dumb ass self passes out.

When we used to do it in boarding school for a cheap high we wouldn't choke each other, you can cause the person to pass out and dream without obstructing the airway. Basically the person who's dreaming squats like a jungle dweller, looks at the floor and hyperventilates. When they feel dizzy they stand up quickly and the "choker" blocks the two arteries leading to the brain by putting pressure with the palm of the hands on each side of the airway. No choking necessary, the "dreamer" passes out in about five seconds and everyone lays them on the prepared mattress. I was really good at it, could pass people out in seconds and never left a bruise.

Crazy kids... ;)

That's seriously weird, and I can't say I've ever heard of kids doing it over here. :S

I'd have to agree with blahblah.

I think this is pretty much the way they were doing it. I know it wasn't done a la Boston Strangler.

I think I'm in shock that I haven't seen or heard about it. That explains the "california dream". A natural high, eh? :shakehead:

Yup, you're out for less than 30 seconds but it seems like hours. It's probably not too good for ya, after all you're restricting blood from the brain *on purpose*.

I'm in the "never heard of this" camp. But we do, however, keep close tabs on the kid's net activities: lot's of youtube, but none of this. ( My daughter does, however, have an unhealthy interest in young ukelele playing satirists, and christian rock bands. Where have I gone wrong? )

I had a friend in elementary school that I lost contact with, even though he only lived 1/2 block away. Seems that in high school he started snorting freon (R12). I have worked around the stuff my whole life without realizing that kids we're destroying themselves with the stuff. Never did find out how he ended up.

Does anyone have any data on how many "dreamers" fail to wake up? That's the things that's kept me fairly straight through the years: fear of never coming down, or back from whatever "trip" I take. These kids have no sense of self preservation.

I would imagine the lack of oxygen kills brain cells, but who knows.

All the kids I ever saw do it immediately started breathing again, but I suppose there is some minute possibility that one could seriously cause harm.

Doesn't Youtube have a way to flag videos?

Have fun talking to your girls, Jewels, glad there are responsible open-minded parents out there.

I'm not sure if this is really what you meant jewels, but I've seen a lot of videos on youtube about guys trying the chokehold on eachother. I've been told its safe but if sure doesn't look it!

Example: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_UFWd0KzmDo

Haven't they ever heard of nitrous oxide? :P

Oh yeah that's been done by the chavs around here, and no-doubt others.

To be honest, it was hilarious to watch.

Walking through the park, there's a really steep hill with a fence at the top and the bottom.

They crouched at the top, then choked themselves until they passed out, falling backwards, and tumbling down the hill into the fence.


Not sure what possessed them to do this, but it was kinda amusing to see the kind of people you generally do not mess with (not sure what the US equivalent is, but Chavs are generally people with no prospects who go around causing trouble and being violent.. quite a large problem in the UK) hurting themselves.

The kids at my school were all doing it in junior high. They'd go behind the school, when school got out, and choke each other.

I was always too afraid to go through it...

But I agree 100% with Manic_Skafe.

There is something so inherently stupid about this that I have a hard time grasping why anyone would choke themselves for pretty much any reason.

Looking back at the wisdom my parents tried to give me growing up, I can't say I ever really recall them saying 'Son, you know, choking yourself for fun is bad.'

It would be like telling me sticking a red hot poker in my nose was bad.

But anyways my children will not be able to get away with what some of the current teens do.

I'm far too computer savy and have no compunction against key loggers, if there are issues beyond that, they can expect a GPS tracking phone as well.

This doesn't mean I plan on being over controlling you just need to be aware and guild your children appropriately.

everyone seems to be saying auto-asphyxiation is and has been fairly commonplace. i must live under a rock as i think iæve heard about it once or twice but have never known anyone to engage in the practise and i´m pretty sure that if it was not non-existent in my school it was extremely rare. my opinion on this matter is that it supports darwinism.

I've heard of it, but I've never actually heard of anyone doing it--and I worked in a drug and alcohol rehab for teens. I did find out that oranges had been banned from the rehab because the kids were saving the peels, drying them out, and ingesting them to get high.

My friend was at a party in high school when his friend's mom came in and accused them all of playing the choking game to get high. They were all stunned; they had never heard about it before. Evidently she had been watching Dateline.

I recall this being "big news" even a few years ago. I recall there were several tragic incidents nationwide where kids were doing this and died of asphyxiation ...originally this was a D.I.Y. event, not a "game" done in a group or with buddies... the lone kid would "hang" himself on his bedpost, or the shower curtain rod, etc. to simulate some kind of orgasmic sensation (got me on that concept, I'm just not comprendo'ing this at all) and if I recall the deaths were attributed to the poor kid passing out while still hanging and then death.

Having two boys now in middle school, I've always tried to be sensitive to any such strange rituals and luckily so far I've not sensed anything harmful going on other than some mild porn from my very recently turned 13yo.

As far as youtube, my Vista "parental control" settings on their web access prevent any youtube or similar surfing...too much stuff there I consider inappropriate for them but not for me. The other day my boy wanted to see some youtube music and sports related vids so I let him go through my account and kept a casual eye on what he did. I know they will see these things anyway since I can already tell for sure that some other local parents have little or no restrictions on web surfing and seem mostly oblivious to the concept...just like most things in life, many people just seem to be stupid.

I think the best way to keep an eye on this is to not let your child have their own computer. And put the household computer in a high traffic area.