# What can kids do today to shock their parents?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-kids-do-today-to-shock-their-parents/507437>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 24, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-kids-do-today-to-shock-their-parents/507437 "2009-08-24T00:03:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-kids-do-today-to-shock-their-parents/507437/61 "2009-08-28T16:47:17Z")

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> [@kevlaw](#):
>
> As a parent of a teenager, I fear the damage that a couple of kids can do to their lives with a camera and an internet connection.
> 
> The combination of crazy sex crime laws ([cite](http://web.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14164614)), irresponsible media and the speed that that incriminating evidence can travel around the world is new and terrifying.
> 
> When I was a teenager, kids had sex and even took pictures of each other naked - but those pictures were unlikely to end up on YouTube or the News at 11.
> 
> In summary, there is probably very little that is new and shocking that kids can do that their parents couldn’t do but the consequences are 100x worse.

Well, that is true. It is a difference in degree that amounts to a difference in kind. A polaroid had a limited lifespan and was a single original that didn’t spawn copies. An internet photo circles the world in a second and stays there “forever” (whatever that really means nowadays) ready to be accessed by all your future employers, acquaintances, etc.

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