It all started months ago with planking. Some bright spark in Australia thought it was a good idea to lie down flat, face down and with arms by sides. Someone then took a photograph, and it was uploaded to the internet.

Fast forward a couple of months, and we saw an internet craze whereby people would plank in odd positions. So far it had been harmless. But when people started to plank on high-rise building railings, and whatnot, it began to pose a threat.

An Australian youngster, barely in his 20s, tried to plank on the narrow railing of a balcony some eight storeys up. He lost his balance and fell to his death. The incident provoked the Australian Prime Minister to speak out on the matter, and, as ridiculous as it sounds, called for an end to dangerous planks.

Next came owling, again here, people began to pose, mimicking and owl. It started out like planking, but already people are owling in dangerous places. At this point, the author must interject and point out that writing such a piece feels ridiculous, using words like owling and planking, and actually pointing out the dangers that it poses.

The new fad, is leisure diving, which perhaps, has been going on for years. This involves diving into the water while posing mid-air in a ‘relaxed’ position. But, at least, there is water beneath you.

Owling, planking and goodness only knows what else, is a simple expression of boredom. When one hears of such stunts, one wonders what happened to activities such as football, swimming, trekking; for goodness sake, anything productive.

It seems that the console generation is tiring of playing virtual games on their PCs and game stations. But surely, more constructive things can be found to do. While such activities start out as a laugh, they can quickly spiral out of control.

We only have to look at the horrific accident in Ta’ Qali which left one teenager dead. That ‘game’, involved sitting on a wooden pallet, tying it to a car or truck, and then allowing yourself to be dragged around for a ride.

In this instance, the game turned sour as the youngster was flung off the platform and into a wall. He lost his life. We need only look at this incident and the planking death in Australia to realise that such activities are stupid and dangerous. Surely, surely, there must be other things that people can occupy their free time with.