Just Tagging Along
Electronic tagging is a form of non-surreptitious surveillance consisting of an electronic device attached to a person or vehicle, allowing their whereabouts to be monitored. In general devices locate themselves using GPS and report their position back to a control centre. This essay will discuss whether these moves are an acceptable response in the face of the unacceptable behaviour of today’s youth or if they are simply designed by adults to deny freedom to this generation.
Every generation seems to believe that the ones that follow it plumb worse standards of behaviour. The problems people identify with today’s youth may be plentiful but are often sensationalised by the media, for example the Kieran Prince story. This was by no means an extraordinary killing yet was headline news for several days simply because it was a racial attack. I would like to add that I am by no means trying to vindicate this case but I am slightly angry as to why this story has been picked out by the media when there are thousands of killings that go unheard of. Personally I do not think that this generation is any worse than previous generations. This is due to many examples such as the hippies. There is no doubt they were an anti-social group. So clearly there have always been problems regarding youths. Many people agree that young people themselves are best placed to identify the problems of their generation. As I have mentioned the problems are plentiful, with drugs, alcohol, vandalism, noise, weapons and unprovoked violence to name but a few. The reasons for these problems? Many youths claim that there is simply not enough to do. Others say the main reason behind this anti-social behaviour is bad-parenting although some adults place the blame on violent television and videogames.
