SUICIDE GAMES, ABANDONED HOUSES, AND THIRST FOR DANGER: THE YOUTH’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE NARRATIVES AND THE MEDIA’S MORAL PANICS ABOUT SEMI-SUPERNATURAL CHALLENGES IN ESTONIA

Abstract

The article looks at the dynamics of the media and real life in relation to the so-called dangerous folklore of teenagers, which includes, for example, contacts with aggressive (semi-)supernatural fear creatures, frightening experi-ences in abandoned houses and notions of so-called suicide games. The authors analyse the interactions between media reality and youth behaviour and related developments in folklore. It is concluded that the presentation of media informa-tion in the form of moral panic mainly based on the concept of young people’s vulnerability, which focuses on extreme risk examples, does not support safer coping, but focuses only on certain types of risk behaviour, often ignoring other concerns and the complexity of problems but also natural self-protecting mechanisms of the youth.