Annoying Teenagers

It's the end of teenage loitering as we know it! A British inventor has whomped up a device to disperse teens hanging around convenience stores, by zapping them with sounds only they can hear:

The device, called the Mosquito ("It's small and annoying," Mr. Stapleton said), emits a high-frequency pulsing sound that, he says, can be heard by most people younger than 20 and almost no one older than 30. The sound is designed to so irritate young people that after several minutes, they cannot stand it and go away.

So far, the Mosquito has been road-tested in only one place, at the entrance to the Spar convenience store in this town in South Wales. Like birds perched on telephone wires, surly teenagers used to plant themselves on the railings just outside the door, smoking, drinking, shouting rude words at customers and making regular disruptive forays inside...

[Owner] Mr. Gough planned to install a sound system that would blast classical music into the parking lot, another method known to horrify hang-out youths into dispersing, but never got around to it. But last month, Mr. Stapleton gave him a Mosquito for a free trial. The results were almost instantaneous. It was as if someone had used anti-teenager spray around the entrance, the way you might spray your sofas to keep pets off. Where disaffected youths used to congregate, now there is no one.

Works better than classical music, apparently. There is a chance that older people with good hearing could still here it, but as the owner of the shop notes in the article, adults aren't usually loitering in front of convenience stores. Think of it as adults getting back at the kids for years of that lousy rock and roll and hip-hop. Or whatever.

I pause for a moment to reflect that finally encroaching decrepitude works for me. I hardly know what to think about that.

Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry

This entry has 9 comments: (Add your own)

#9 Comment from mizzkeke2
6/19/07 3:18 AM | Permalink

TRUE DAT TRUE DAT............
#8 Comment from sjcompcon
9/8/06 1:28 AM | Permalink

What would you like to see in a teen club? I need ideas since I would like to open a club in my area. There is no entertainment for the kids around here that need to vent. My kids are bored. Help me make their lives more fun!! Journal: Teen Club Ideas.
#7 Comment from delela1
11/30/05 9:38 AM | Permalink

Wow, this is interesting...curious too.
Dona
journals.aol.com/delela1/BlueSkiesandGentleBreezes
#6 Comment from judithheartsong
11/30/05 6:53 AM | Permalink

ahhhhh.... jumping ads now.... can it get any better? I want these ads off my journal now aol. judi
#5 Comment from visionarydiva1
11/29/05 10:02 PM | Permalink

You just always amaze me with the things that you find. I don't even know what my position on this is. I mean there are definitely some teenagers that might would need this especially when I think about where I am from lol.

AMy
http://journals.aol.com/visionarydiva1/AVisionaryDiva
http://journals.aol.com/visionarydiva1/ABookClubforJLanders/

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Annoying Teenagers