Worried About Your Teens Sexting? You Should Be.
If you have teens at home then you know that they now come with an attachment on one hand called a cell phone. With that cell phone, they can perform feats unimaginable to you and me like texting 100 words per minute using only their thumbs. Often, teens don’t actually talk on these cell phones but you can be sure that they take and send pictures, video and occasionally even an email or two although I now hear from my own teen that email is incredibly outdated. Go figure.
One of the newest trends to worry parents and authorities is a blend of sex and texting called “sexting”. According to Wikipedia, sexting “is the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between cell phones”. This new Gen Y mating call, which 20% of teens admit participating in, would be problematic enough sent between two consenting parties, but in most cases, these photos are shared among groups of friends and sometimes even entire schools and beyond. Usually, the sexually explicit pictures also end up on the internet where they become a permanent record of an unfortunate choice.
Many kids involved in the practice of sexting aren’t aware of the severity of the consequences. In some states, both the teens that sent sexual pictures as well as those who received them have been charged with child pornography and are now required to register as sex offenders. But sexting has ruined lives beyond felony criminal charges. In one recent case, a teen girl committed suicide after being harassed and bullied over sexting images she sent to her then boyfriend.
This news was enough for me to ask my fourteen year old what she knew about sexting. Her reaction fell in line with one of the definitions provided by Urban Dictionary :
Sexting: a term created by the media referring to sending sexually explicit text messages. The term is used by adults who are out of the loop, and not by the individuals actually sending the messages.
Once I explained what the term meant, my daughter knew exactly what I was talking about and proceeded to tell me about a girl at her school who sent such messages. Apparently, the girl has now changed schools due to the scandal that erupted from her sexting “crotch shots” of herself out to boys she liked in the class. When I asked why she thought the girl would do something like that, my lovely child replied, “to be a skank”. Nice. Although I was glad to discover that my daughter and her friends look down upon the practice of sexting, since they are only in middle school, I hesitate to exhale too deeply.
I know times have changed since I was a teen but I can’t imagine ever being so careless as to send such photos of myself at any age to anyone and expect them to be kept private. As much as I enjoy technology, I am extremely thankful that cell phones with digital and video cameras were not around when I was young. The good Lord only knows what trouble could have been documented for my future generations. Ugh…I cringe at the thought.
You can find Kimberly in Petroville where she lives and writes daily.
An original DC Metro Moms post.
Photo credit: SocialBranding.org
