Hey, Joe, watcha wanna do tonight?
Uhm, I don’t know. Maybe we could go and throw ourselves at some garage doors. That should be fun.
That's lit. Let’s go.
Now, if the conversation above sounds a bit like the script from an episode of Bevis and Butthead, don’t go jumping to conclusions; turns out this is actually happening with some regularity. It’s become a trend.
Bored mostly-teens have discovered the thrill of an absolutely empty experience and are tossing themselves, bodily, against strangers’ garage doors. The unpleasant result is frequently a damaged garage door. It could also include bodily harm.
Exactly what youngsters think they’re accomplishing isn’t clear, though this isn’t the first generation to arrive at a silly expression of, well, nothingness. After all, in the ‘90s, people wore fanny packs and started that sagging pants phenomenon where they showed off their underwear. Hopefully, they didn’t combine the two.
The next decade, people were wearing shutter shades and wore long, long scarves that could get caught in elevator doors. But, while these trends might injure your reputation, over time, they didn’t generally lead to bodily harm.
Not only do they toss themselves bodily against a garage door but they capture the event on video. It has become a social media trend. You toss yourself against a garage door while a friend videos ‘the fun’ and then you share it on social media.
While we all hope nothing serious happens to the human pinballs, almost inevitably, damage is done to the garage doors. Dents are pounded into the surface of the garage door. Worse yet, if they hit the door where it is backed up by a brace, they can damage the inner structure of the garage door.
In some cases, the damage is so severe that a garage door may become inoperable. In worst case scenarios, the garage needs to be replaced. At the very least, repairs area almost inevitably required.
In most cases, individuals who find this entertaining tend to throw themselves against metal or fiberglass garage doors; wooden garage doors are often a bit firmer. It doesn’t mean a wooden garage door can’t be damaged but it’s harder to do. Someone has to throw themselves at a wooden garage door with greater force.
In the process, a wooden garage door is more likely to cause injury to the human pinballs. It’s a tough game but, if someone is silly enough to do it, there are risks that may take the fun out of the experience. And if it’s not injury, it’s against the law to go around damaging peoples’ property, even if someone uses their own body to do the damage.
