Youth on wrong path romanticising crime

With a rise in cars being stolen on the Coast, and a lot of young people appearing in court for related offences, I wonder if a social change is in the air.

CRIME CULTURE: There has been a rise in car thefts on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Trevor Veale

OPINION:

WITH a rise in cars being stolen on the Coast, and a lot of young people appearing in court for related offences, I wonder if a social change is in the air.

Matty Holdsworth's story highlighted that the number of cars being stolen hasn't been this high since 2011.

Yesterday at Caloundra Magistrates Court a magistrate told a 19-year-old woman, who he was convicting of unlawful use of a car, that similar offences had become "ubiquitous".

A photo of a stolen car posted on her Instagram account had led to her arrest.

The photo was posted in April, the same month 21-year-old Shania McNeill died after crashing her car head-on into another while her friends filmed her playing chicken on Snapchat.

A google search of teenagers being connected to crimes through social media returns thousands of results.

Since the rise of Instagram and Facebook it's common knowledge that teenagers will do almost anything for likes.

It now seems that encompasses crime.

Social circles can have great influence on a person's behaviour so it makes sense that Instagram feeds romanticising guns and grand theft auto may lead a teenager down the wrong path.

I don't know what the answer is. Should parents be involved in their almost-adults' social media experience? Do online platforms need to crack down on content or should they continue to allow the content to help solve the crimes?

Whatever the answer, I think the problem will continue to grow if crime continues to be painted as pretty online.

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