Its not the problem that kids are messing about, its the lengths they go to nowadays to get the reaction they so often want.

People just arent shocked by the juvenile things we used to think were funny when we were kids, like waterbombs, pea shooting, throwing veg etc etc and to be fair such things were mostly harmless and unlikely to hurt anyone.

It seems that changes in society means that because kids arent getting the "reaction" they used to to traditional pranks, they try more extreme things.

The problem comes is that often the extreme things they do now cross the line between prank to downright dangerous/illegal/criminal action.

Its like a lot of this happy slapping craze wasnt necessarily kids being pure evil, but attempting to provoke a reaction and get the attention they crave. However in doing so they are committing assault, a crime plain and simple.

In the "good old days" waterbombing a car would mean the guy comes after you, you do a runner, nearly shit yourself, get your kicks and have a bit of fun.

People dont react to things like that anymore because of the world we live in so instead its now stones that get thrown and what would cognitively be an innocent prank is now criminal damage and potentially manslaughter if they are stupid enough to do it on motorways and cause a crash....