Media effect on kids/parents........

Recently, a couple of situations caught my attention. One was the recent arrest of one of Mizzou's basketball players for taking a shotgun butt and smacking a guy in the side of the head with it in an altercation over a girl. Another was where a OSU basketball player was arrested for a DUI.

First, let me make one thing perfectly clear. These kinds of incidents aren't anything new in regards to college kids. They're prone to doing stupid things and have been for ages. Part of college is learning to behave yourself without any supervision. Some kids succeed while others fail miserably.

The only reason we notice these things more now is that there's an increased media presence to cover these situations and bring them to light. In the past, entities would often cover up these situations to avoid any problems. Now, if college kids in major sports make a misstep, you can be sure that it will show up in all the regional and national news coverage.

I bring this up because I noted recent research that showed a drastic improvement recently in both smoking rates and unprotected sex. Kids aren't smoking much anymore and, if they do have underage sex, are much more likely to use protection to avoid diseases or pregnancy. I don't think it's any stretch to assume that anti-smoking and safe sex campaigns that were started in the 80s likely helped these situations.

With that said, could the ever-increasing number of reported screw-ups by college kids have a side benefit to society as a whole? By allowing kids and families to see the repercussions of these indiscretions by college kids, will the kids think twice about what actions they take when they're out on their own? Will the parents take advantage of the opportunity presented by these news stories to further show their kids what can happen if rules aren't followed? I suppose at some level the assumption would have to be made that parents are doing a good job in the first place.

It's an interesting topic. Who knows what effect, if any, these situations will have on future college students.