Hating teenagers, its the American way.

My companion and I were walking down Fitzwater street last night, and at about fifth and Fitzwater he stopped, sighed, and put his hands over his ears. I stared at him, and he explained only "I hate this house," and pointed to the nice white house on the corner.

"Why?" I asked.
"Wait for it," he replied.

Suddenly, my ears were hit with a high-pitched frequency that almost knocked me back. Apparently this house uses an anti-loitering device, such as Mosquito products. Anti-loitering devices are based on the idea that as humans get older they lose their hearing, so only people under 24 can hear certain frequencies. The device will emit that frequency every few minutes, to drive away the evil teenage menace and leave the 30-somethings of the neighborhood in peace.

This device is all well and good in front of a grocery store, where the property is big enough that only people actually trespassing would hear it, or in a suburban or rural environment. But in the middle of a city? In the middle of a fairly nice up-and-coming neighborhood in the city? Come on.

First of all, my friend and I are both 22, and we could hear the pitch just fine. I assume they only turn it on at night, because I have walked by the house during the day without being in pain before, but I should also note that my friend and I were walking by it at the evil, late-night time of 10:45 p.m. Clearly we are horrible for being out past sunset in the summer, and deserve to be subjected to pain for daring to not go out of our way to get to his house.

Second of all, the pitch affects people over 18, people who can legally own houses, and some of which who could afford to move into the neighborhood (my friend actually does own a house a few blocks down). If the device is only turned on during the night, and potential buyers only tour their houses during the day, then those poor under 24-year-olds are in for a world of hurt the first night they spend in the house.

And what about families? Is this street completely devoid of children? Even if the kids lived a few doors down, so that they'd never hear it while in their own home, are kids not allowed to walk around their own neighborhood now?

It seems to me like these machines only bring down the value of the surrounding houses. I would not buy a house in a neighborhood where I could only invite people of a certain age over for dinner.

It's absolutely ridiculous to have a machine like that in a city. Especially, I should point out, a city where most of the major crimes are committed by adults.