[ad_1]
Using exterior practice vehicles is prohibited, however the Police Division doesn’t monitor arrests associated to using on the skin of a practice. Mr. Davey stated the authority is making an attempt to unfold the message of the hazards of subway browsing, whereas the Police Division stated in an announcement that an elevated police presence in stations and on platforms — Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mr. Adams flooded the system with extra officers within the fall — might “deter violations of the transit guidelines and rules together with using on the outside of practice vehicles.”
In interviews with 5 teenage boys who’ve ridden on the skin of subways, The Instances discovered that individuals, who are typically teenage boys, based on interviews and social media movies, usually enter a practice similar to most passengers. As soon as the practice pulls out of a station, surfers slip between vehicles and scramble as much as the highest. The boys say they usually go for elevated practice strains, the place they will really feel the wind and see the town above floor.
Jon, a 15-year-old boy from Queens who requested to be recognized by solely his first identify out of concern for potential authorized repercussions, stated he acquired caught browsing on the again of the No. 5 practice by the police in early 2022, however acquired off with a warning.
Thrill-seekers using atop subway vehicles is hardly novel; a 1991 article in The Instances famous an anecdotal enhance on the time. However in an period the place social media is so central to standing, youngsters are incentivized to publish extra daring and attention-grabbing content material, specialists stated, and movies of younger subway surfers have gone viral on TikTok. “To get views, and likes, and for folks to work together together with your posts, it’s important to do one thing crazier,” stated Kim Gorgens, a psychology professor on the College of Denver. “And to realize notoriety with your folks it’s important to do one thing larger and crazier. We’ve one-upped one another into a extremely sort of perilous place.”
After The Instances requested remark from TikTok on its insurance policies concerning browsing movies and content material that may encourage younger folks to do harmful issues, a number of movies of youngsters browsing in New York disappeared from the platform.
“The protection and well-being of our customers is a high precedence at TikTok. As we clarify in our Group Pointers, we don’t enable content material that encourages, promotes or glorifies harmful challenges that may result in harm,” a TikTok spokesperson stated in an announcement.
Browsing movies resemble a real-life model of the cell sport Subway Surfers, through which customers tackle the persona of a teen who has simply been caught doing graffiti and should run on tracks and bounce on trains to flee an inspector and his canine. In an more and more digital world, the blurring of strains between display and actuality can normalize dangerous conduct, stated Dr. Megan Moreno, interim chair of the division of pediatrics and principal investigator of the Social Media and Adolescent Well being Analysis Crew on the College of Wisconsin.
[ad_2]