A High Court trial in New Plymouth has uncovered the ‘sex, drugs and rock’n’roll’ of our era.

The sex remains – naturally, the drugs are interchangeable with cheap alcohol, and social media is pushing more cultural boundaries than the Rolling Stones ever did.

In a world where young people can’t eat their breakfast without Snapchatting, Facebooking, Tweeting, or Instagramming it, the grip social media has on society may not surprise you.

Yet the case of a teenager putting videos on Facebook of his two mates having a threesome with a drunk schoolgirl, has thrown my moral compass out of wack.

Jack Greenslade has been sentenced to community detention and community work, after admitting to recording the incident at a party in October 2013.

A 19-year-old man, with name suppression, will have his conviction for recording himself grope a woman’s breast, quashed, if he does his bit of prevent others from making the same mistakes he did.

A judge said he would reconsider dropping the charge in March if the teen talked to students at two local boys' high schools as a part of a police education programme, and donated a thousand dollars to WellStop.

A jury acquitted him and his mate of raping the woman in December.

During the eight-day trial, the parents of both the complainant and accused heard what most parents would choose to be oblivious to.

The two men and woman drank a considerable amount before ending up in bed together.

Jack was sober. 

He wandered into the bedroom, thought the ordeal was funny, and starting filming.

Next thing you know it, other party-goers are watching the videos, which end up on a Facebook page at least 20 boys have access to.

The accused say the woman was leading them on and 'wanted it'.

The woman says she was too drunk to know what was happening.

All those involved were high-achieving Year 13 students, not gang members being initiated or people on the fringes of society.

This begs the question; if they’re normal teenagers, are their actions normal?

One of the accused didn’t see issue with the girl being filmed without her knowing it.

He told police, “everyone does it... the boys would love it”.

Yet a 16-year-old girl broke down when she told the jury how she had to look away when she saw a video.

Another male witness said, “We were concerned about it, but we reassured ourselves it was OK.”

Defence lawyer, Paul Keegan, said all the standard mistakes teenagers make can become life-changing disasters in the context of the 21st century.

Social media creates a spectacle that can see a situation spiral out of control in seconds.

It sucks young people into an adult world without licence.

It is for this reason I believe adults need to get up to speed with the world of social media and educate young people about its risks.

We also need to make sure the easy access teens have to sexual material on their phones and such like, doesn’t normalise it.

The urgency to teach young people about respecting their bodies and those of others, has never been more imminent.

I can only hope this case gives New Zealanders the shake-up it’s given the New Plymouth community.