WV. Recent fights at Pt. Pleasant High School shed light on social media effects

The videos of girls and boys kicking, punching and pulling hair has become a popular trend on sites like YouTube. Most videos show the fights happening in school hallways.

Whether fights are real or staged, either way they have become a trend. When “high school fight” is searched on YouTube, a drop-down menu provides at least 10 other specific searches like “high light reel”, “in classroom”, or “in school.”

Psychologist Diane Mufson explained why tensions may be so high at the high school level: “High schoolers first of all are an excitable group. It’s an age where their hormones and everything are raging. They will get in to fights because of issues, personalities and also seeking attention.”

Once videos of fights are online for the public to see, the videos can be easily downloaded and saved by anyone: parents, administrators, media and law officials.

“They’re probably thinking of ‘what kind of attention will I get or notoriety?’ They aren’t thinking of consequences or long term problems, they can have legal consequences, social or academic. You name it, they could have it,” said Mufson.

Fighting isn’t anything new, but Mufson said the difference is why students choose to fight, one of the big reasons is a desire to be part of social media.

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