Why do children and teens find destruction comedic?

**Posts:** 23 · by **WardenEternal** » Tue Sep 01, 2020 10:57 am

I can already build a list of a few ideas some would say why children and teenagers love destruction or rude/hurtful behavior:

Bad upbringing, excessive energy, abuse, boredom, "just a phase."

But is it really always one of those things? Sometimes even adults partake in childish behavior like this to wind down stress. Could it be the grand system, assortment of barriers in life and the government?

Where I live, it's rather normal to dress in all black as a growing teen and partake in vandalism. Spray-painting buildings, tagging, finding things to destroy and have a good laugh, peer pressuring others, et cetera. (Note: I don't do these things myself besides sometimes breaking ice or smashing composting food at home in our yard which seems to be mindlessly entertaining. I just can't put my finger onto why that is.)

I'm also questioning the neural pathway of what leads to a person thinking it's hilarious to watch things breakdown. Maybe it's just human nature to have fun destroying things as dogs and cats enjoy killing smaller animals?

**Posts:** 9885 · by **Candid** » Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:31 pm

Sounds cathartic, to me. Being human is inherently stressful, so it's a way of letting off (socially unacceptable) steam.

**Posts:** 3018 · by **tokeless** » Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:18 pm

There's no clear answer I don't think.
My view is that at that age you have no value of things because you don't have anything of value if you're off an estate. I've not known posh kids, as we called them doing similar because they may have more and better examples to follow. I never like gardening as a kid because it wasn't mine and I would resist my mum's suggestion of helping her with weeding etc.. now I'm an adult with a house and garden and I enjoy it because it means something to me.
I also think disaffected kids use anger and destruction as expression. A lad I grew up with was a prolific car thief... reason? Was never going to own his own so he took them just to experience it.

**Posts:** 198 · by **Prycejosh1987** » Mon Dec 14, 2020 5:16 pm

Because that happens to us and we are naturally in-tuned to evil. This is why babies lie, and they take things without asking, etc. Good morals and personality grows over time.

Why do children and teens find destruction comedic?

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