How can people be bored nowadays?

Last week I commented about a YouTube video that went viral as millions of people around the world watched a girl get ganged up on at a New York-area McDonald’s restaurant.

She spent three excruciating minutes getting pummelled, pulled and stomped, taking kicks to the face and feet coming down hard on her head as she lay on the ground in pain – or so I read in the video’s description as I couldn’t stand to watch the whole thing. (Call me odd but I don’t find that content entertaining.)

Later that night I saw a news story about teenagers who killed a guy just for the hell of it. The incident happened in 2013 when a 17-year-old kid told police, “We were bored and didn’t have anything to do, so we decided to kill somebody.” Yeah, that was his actual statement.

The victim was a 22-year-old Aussie who was in the U.S. on a college scholarship. He was out for a jog in the Oklahoma town where he was visiting his girlfriend as the teens drove by and decided it would be fun just to randomly shoot someone.

The driver of the car said he “was aware” that his friend had a gun and added, “I believe that (the victim) died as a result of me driving my car while (my friend) fired the revolver at him.”

The group of teens involved in the shooting was sentenced to lengthy times behind bars but like the column last week, it makes me wonder how people can be bored these days and just decide to say, “What the hell, I just happen to have a gun here. Let’s go take out someone.”

At 17 years old – and maybe I’m not so embarrassed to admit this amid the violence teens are prone to these days – I was playing with Lego in my bedroom. Yup, until I was 18 years old I played with my favourite childhood toy. I wasn’t bothering anyone, except maybe my parents who were praying I’d get a social life. Nevertheless, I didn’t harm anyone or anything and found creative ways to busy myself.

I am 32 now and can proudly say I have still never touched an actual gun either. Geez, I’d be mocked in Oklahoma.