I love teenagers – but what on earth is going through their heads? I was all set to write about an uplifting aspect of media, when two articles grabbed my attention. The first in the Los Angeles Times reported the prevalence of “car surfing” among teens, especially in California, Texas and Florida. Fifty-one teens have died in eight years from 1998 to 2006 from standing on the roof, hood or trunk of a moving car – car surfing. A variation is to hang on to the sides or get dragged by a rope from behind a car. If they didn’t die, many were left with traumatic brain and spinal injuries.

The second article explained the first: “Media and Risky Behaviors,” published in the Future of Children Journal in the spring of 2008. the connection between the two is the effects of media on teen behavior. Basically, more often than we think, what many teens see, they do.

Neurosurgeons began seeing the rise of head injuries in their operating rooms and saw a link between teen car surfing activity and the media depicting these stunts in Grand Theft Auto video games, YouTube videos, and the movie and video game version, Jackass. Soledad Esobar-Chaves and Craig Anderson linked many other unhealthy behaviors: smoking, obesity, violence and drinking to the media that teens are spending more and more time with every day.

My book: Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen explains the brain science, but it’s up to us to get the MediaWise message to teens and challenge them with healthier thrills that won’t kill them.

What are healthier challenges your teens try?

-Dr. Dave