Parents of Teens - Things to Have on Your Radar

I know that most parents know their children well.  But do think back to when you were a teenager and wanted to hide something from your parents?  A solid object or something you learned about that may have seemed cool but you knew your parents might not like.

Well, in today's online world there's even MORE for teens to learn about and possibly want to hide.

Exhibit One (via Stranger Slog):

A List of Where Teens Stash Their Drugs
Published by the Drug Enforcement Administration on their Get Smart About Drugs website, the list features some warnings great ideas about everyday objects where kids can stash their drugs—inside alarm clocks, heating vents, teddy bears, game consoles, and (for the nerds out there) graphing calculators.

More items mentioned: highlighter caps, shoes, and candy wrappers.

Resources for parents with concerns over addictions. 

Exhibit Two: Milo Yiannopoulos


Do you know who this guy is?  Nothin' but trouble.  From Wiki (bold mine):

Milo Yiannopoulos (/jəˈnɒpᵿləs/;[1] born Milo Hanrahan; 18 October 1984; also writing under the pen name Milo Andreas Wagner[2][3]) is a British media personality associated with the political alt-right[4] and a former senior editor for Breitbart News. Describing himself as a "cultural libertarian,"[5] he is a vocal critic of feminism, Islam, social justice, political correctness, and other movements and ideologies he sees as authoritarian or of the regressive left.

In July 2016, he was permanently banned from Twitter for what the company cited as "inciting or engaging in the targeted abuse or harassment of others".[6][7][8]

In February 2017 he resigned from Breitbart after a controversy arising from a video clip in which he said that sexual relationships between 13-year-old boys and adult men and women can be "perfectly consensual" and positive experiences for the boys.[9] 

Defending himself in the midst of allegations that he was a supporter of paedophilia, Yiannopoulos stated that his statements were an attempt to cope with his own past victimhood, as an object of child abuse by unidentified older men.

Yiannopoulos was also criticized for attending, in his late 20s, a "Hollywood party" in which (in his words) "very young boys" were sexually abused, but failing to report the abusers to the authorities or to identify them in an interview with Joe Rogan that addressed the subject.[10]

He also had a book deal taken away because of his support of paedophilia.

He's entitled to his (clearly) big-mouth opinions and (clearly) loves being a provocateur but as a youth role model?  Not so much.

He got exited from Breitbart and last week announced he has $12M from investors for a new venture, a public speaking/events business dedicated to "corporatized trolling via live entertainment."  From Vanity Fair (bold theirs):

Yiannopoulos, for his part, is relying on a formula that he employed at Breitbart.

He said that Milo Inc. would be dedicated to “making the lives of journalists, professors, politicians, feminists, Black Lives Matter activists, and other professional victims a living hell.” ... Initially, Yiannopolos will be the company's main talent. “I’m the proof of concept,” he said, but added that he hoped to eventually expand the company.

“The thing about me is that I have access to a talent pipeline that no one else even knows about. All the funniest, smartest, most interesting young YouTubers and all the rest of them who hate feminism, who hate political correctness. This generation that’s coming up, it’s about 13, 14, 15, now have very different politics than most other generations. They love us. They love me, and I’m going to be actively hunting around for the next Milo.”

It would, of course, to be difficult for any modern-day parent to patrol everything your child sees and reads.  But it may be worth talking to your child about what legitimate discourse looks like and someone who is trying to make a buck off of being  - what's the word I'm searching for? - being a jerk and perhaps a dangerous jerk.