Disturbing social media fight sites used by Gold Coast schoolkids

If you thought you’d seen the worst of social media, you were wrong. These sites being used by Gold Coast kids will leave you stunned, writes Ann Wason Moore.

OUT of the mouths of babes …

Last week, a couple of the neighbourhood kids were jumping on our trampoline when I heard one joking that they should mock fight and send it through to GC Scraps.

GC what? And so I conducted my own little tech search.

Oh, that I never knew of this social media cesspit.

It turns out that there are multiple sites on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and who knows where else that are dedicated wholly and solely to fights between young kids, most of whom are in school uniform.

The majority of these sites are private, so who knows the extent of what’s actually on there, but what can be seen isn’t pretty and all accounts openly request users to “send through fights’’.

One account has more than 1000 followers and states “last one (account) got deleted, run this up boys … hit me up if you want something taken down, don’t report’’. Another brazenly warns “don’t snitch’’.

Wow, what a wonderful culture we’re creating here.

Children fighting is sadly nothing new.

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Kids fighting is nothing new, sadly, although that obviously does not make it okay, but to brag and boast of your schoolyard conquest or to be bullied first physically and then in cyberspace, is a horrible new twist in the tale.

The “best case’’ videos I’ve seen are like a mini-Fight Club. All parties involved seem to be willing contenders and shake hands afterwards. The worst case videos are straight up assault.

Mobile phones and social media are becoming a drug for our children. The adrenaline rush of posting something illicit or dangerous is egging them on to ever more dangerous and anti-social behaviour.

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It frightens me that these immature minds and bodies are being handed a technological weapon they are not ready for.

I unwillingly allowed my son his first phone this year (he paid for it), and while I actually do trust him, I do keep very close tabs on his online activity and, more than that, I keep close tabs on him. We have long talks. I know all of his friends, his friends’ parents, I have all the passwords … but still, how many of the parents whose children feature in GC Scraps would feel the same way?

Brisbane's Southside Gang coming down to the Gold Coast.

And then there are the baby car thieves plaguing the city.

Before I even read the Gold Coast Bulletin story that kid crims aged 10 to 17 are more likely to steal a car than any other age group in the southeastern police region, I’d had firsthand experience.

Two cars were stolen from our cul-de-sac in one week last month. In one case, the crims entered the house while the family was at home and took the keys from the kitchen table.

In the other case, the car was found two days later, abandoned after a joyride, and the suspects were aged 12 and 15.

Police say juveniles, chasing notoriety through their social media exploits, are targeting affluent suburbs in search of luxury vehicles and taking advantage of poor security.

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A police union rep recently said teen crims were swarming like “locusts on a field’’, breaking into homes and stealing cars in one suburb, before moving on to the next.

Southside Gang members out of the southern suburbs of Brisbane have been gloating about their “earns” on social media, including filming themselves on the run from police and posting images of the cars they have stolen.

On their Instagram page they claim to be “keepin quiet in ya house, creeping south”.

Skiting about stolen cars, filming student scraps for social media – it makes me sick with worry.

As parents, we have to step up and step in. Ask questions, set boundaries, talk to schools and teachers, seek support from other family members.

These are our children. This illicit activity is a symptom of a larger problem. As adults it is our job to help.

I don’t want to be a Boomer (old and out of touch) or a Karen (asking for the manager), as the iGen would say … but are the kids really all right?