"The E-prom bust"

"The E-prom bust"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

     Recently some really wise people decided that it wasn't enough that parents are virtually running a young persons life , they also want to make sure that these same young people don't commit some horrible mistake during their JS proms. Enter the E-prom where there will be cameras set up on the dance floor and all around the venue that will allow parents and potentially other people too to watch the proceedings over the internet. Not only do they provide live streaming of the JS Proms , they also send picture updates to the concerned parents who would probably be staying up all night and/or probably be near a Star bucks or hangout place near the Proms venue anyway , if not secretly staying in the same hotel just to keep an eye on their precious children. While I believe these people mean well and there are probably statistics to support teen pregnancies occurring during this time of the year there are a number of reasons why the e-prom will fail.

1) Not all parents are on-line.

Yup , it seems like anyone can access the internet with a laptop or phone nowadays but even in this day and age there are still those who refuse to learn technology. probably too stubborn or just plain too lazy to learn. Of course these same parents can also just have a neighbor or family member help them set it up but when a glitch happens then they wont be able to do anything at all but wait for someone to help them.In which case their children will have the night all to themselves...

2) They won't be able to put camera's everywhere...

So let us say that you are monitoring the dance floor , but most kids are not on the dance floor all the time.They always have time to go out and go to the bathroom. And good luck if you can install cameras there. Of course if a prom night is in a hotel one can only go excuse him or herself to go to the room , there wont be enough Chaperones to go and be with someone all the time right? or there wont even be cameras leading to the rooms themselves that is hooked in to the e-prom program. Let us just say that with all the hormones acting up a determined duo will be able to do the deed by hook or by crook. It takes as little as 15 minutes for a couple to be gone to do the nasty and well some can even be missing for an hour or so. The cameras wont be focusing on just one individual after all.

I guess on the bright side those who are not decided to do it will be affected by nerves and not go through with it.At least in this sense the e-prom is a good deterrent.

3) It's just plain wrong...

Somehow people in our country are voyeurs. We thrive on this perverse act of watching other peoples lives without them being able to see us like in Pinoy Big Brother.The e-prom is just like that.It may have good intentions but I still believe that its not really that much of a public event to begin with. People still want to keep themselves unknown and not have it all hang out there all over the internet. Not everyone can be pretty or handsome and not everyone deserve the screen time no matter how much their parents love them.Not everyone can dance as well and you don't want those embarrassing missed steps seen all over the world by relatives and friends who would not live it down. So it's just plain wrong , its an invasion of privacy. I'm not sure if there are forms that are signed to waive this right to privacy (as if teenagers should be exempt from privacy right?) but it is something that the teenagers may not want because they are planning any promiscuity but simply because they don't want their faces all over the internet.

Speaking of promiscuity the e-prom  means to protect these teenagers but I believe that it is up to these teenagers themselves to make the right decisions and make the decisions to defend themselves. I believe that if these teenagers grew up in environment that teaches them to be strong or even an environment that allows them to decide for themselves once in awhile then it would be all right. We won't need this service at all.

Who am I kidding though?
Those kids who already have a strong stand in high school and seldom are affected by peer pressure are the exemptions to the rules and considered uncool by the "IN" crowd. Now the supposedly "IN" crowd are the people you should be looking at and who's parents would benefit from the e-prom program a whole lot.

All in all the e-prom has its purpose but it is still up to the teenager to watch out for his or herself. It is also up to the adults to give their children the leeway to make some mistakes if they want to because that is all part of growing up.