Happy slapping increasingly slap-happy?

So apparently it's all the rage in the UK for groups of teens to run amok slapping unsuspecting kids or passersby, documenting the whole charade on cameraphones and sending it around via 3G (the article actually nonchalantly says "slap or mug" which seem to us quite different practices not lending themselves to being lumped together so willy-nilly). "Happy slapping" has apparently spread from the UK garage music scene to school playgrounds (as most fads do) and is now taking the nation by storm. The Guardian reports attacks are growing more violent as perps take on adult victims in parks and public places. Let's pause for a reality check and remember how the media loves to sensationalize this stuff, so it may be happening and it may be growing, but you can probably still walk out of your home and make it to the corner market without getting happy slapped. We hope.

[Via picturephoning]