Sending sexy text messages from your mobile phone is a great way to seduce another adult. But it’s not just adults that are engaged in this practice. Teens and even tweens are increasingly sending sexy texts to one another. And it’s not just texts that they’re sending; a lot of these kids are using their mobile phone cameras to take nude pictures and explicit videos of themselves to send to others via MMS message. This is causing obvious concerns among parents who aren’t quite sure how to monitor their kids’ use of cell phones. And now schools and even some local governments have started to pay attention to the problem of sexting. Is it really as bad as everyone seems to think it is?
What is Sexting?
Sexting refers to sending electronic messages with sexual text, photos and / or videos. It’s generally used to refer to sending these messages via mobile phone although the photos may then be uploaded to social networking websites and shared online. As cell phones get more advanced and data costs get lower, sexting is becoming increasingly common.
Prevalence of Teen Sexting
The media started reporting on sexting in 2005. Since that time, it has become obvious that a large percentage of the people who are engaging in the act of sexting are underage teens. One oft-cited survey indicates that approximately twenty percent of teens have engaged in the act of sexting. And since kids today start using cell phones as soon as they can talk, parents have to start worrying about the issue of sexting early on in their child’s development.
Problems Caused by Teen Sexting
A lot of parents are outraged by the fact that their teens are engaging in sexting. Some parents are simply worried about their teens engaging in any sexual acts before they are old enough to deal with the consequences. However, other parents are specifically concerned about the problems that are unique to sexting. Those problems include:
• Sex messages going viral. One of the biggest problems that teens face when they engage in sexting is that the messages they send end up going viral. For some teens, this can mean that a nude photo they had expected to remain private is sent out to thousands of different people. At the very least, this can be embarrassing since viral sex messages are usually sent to people the teen knows (such as classmates). At worst, this can lead to the teens becoming victims of crimes after strangers see their sex messages and become obsessed with them.
• Problems with friends and social relationships. Teens that see their sex messages go viral normally didn’t make that happen themselves. Usually what happens is that they send a nude photo to a single phone – the phone of a friend or someone they are dating. That person then sends the photo to others (often after a fight or breakup). This can result in damaging friendships. After all, who wants the person they’re dating to send nude mobile photos to everyone they know? In some extreme cases, fights over sexting issues can lead to serious violence.
• Self-esteem issues. One of the biggest problems with sexting is the immediacy of it. Teens might not have time to think about what they’re doing before they take a nude mobile phone photo and send it to others. When they wake up the next day and realize what they’ve done, they may suffer emotional consequences. Low self-esteem related to objectifying themselves in this manner is one of the biggest problems that teens deal with as a result of sexting. In extreme cases, regrets over sexting can even lead to suicide.
• Addiction to sexting. Some parents have expressed concerns that their teens are actually addicted to sexting. We have seen other mobile phone addictions (and mobile web addictions) develop in teens so it’s possible that sexting could be addictive as well.
• The photos may come back to haunt teens. We have all heard of cases where adults’ careers get ruined when nude photos of themselves surface that were taken years before. Teens engaging in sexting might not be able to think about the long term consequences of putting these photos out there but those consequences do exist.
Teens Face Trouble with Schools and the Law
The problems that are caused by teen sexting are serious and parents of teens who might engage in this mobile phone act have good reasons to be concerned. But is the problem so bad that the authorities should get involved? A lot of people think so. As a result, teens who are caught engaging in sexting might get in trouble with their school officials or even with the law.
Schools are starting to do what they can to crack down on sexting. The most common course of action is to ban all cell phones in school. Students found possessing cell phones in class can be suspended from school and have their phones taken away. Although parents don’t want their teens engaged in sexting, they also want their kids to have access to their cell phones if they need them. Schools aren’t sure how to deal with this issue. Some schools are hoping to eventually be able to get access to monitoring teens’ texts in much the same way that they do with teen social networking accounts that are accessed on school grounds although there are many legal issues surrounding this.
In some places, it is illegal to possess any kind of sexual photo or video depicting a teenager. It doesn’t matter if the person who possesses the image is also a teen or if the teen in the photo is the one that sent the image. In other words, a teenager who receives a sexual photo on his cell phone from his girlfriend could be found guilty of committing a crime simply for having the photo. What’s worse is that in some places, he can be labeled a sex offender, a brand that will stick with him for the rest of his life. And in some places, the teen can go to prison for sexting.
What Should be Done About Teen Sexting?
So teen sexting is a problem but what should be done about it? Is it reasonable to prosecute teens and send them to prison for sharing nude photos and messages via their mobile phones? Does it make sense to take their phones away altogether? Or is this just something that parents should monitor without interference from other authorities?
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SEXTING: BIGGEST CON JOB EVER PULLED ON AMERICAN ADULTS.
We are not talking about sending dirty messages (that is true sexting), we are talking about sending naked pictures of teens – PORNOGRAPHY. Hundreds of thousands of adults are in prisons for doing exactly that, so welcome aboard teens! Our youth cannot act dumb and say they didn’t know. Most teens are smarter technically than adults in this area. They have been sending pornography for as long as cameras have been in cell phones, 10 years. Society cannot throw away an adult for innocently looking at pornography on their home computer screen, then say ’silly teen’ to a minor and let them go free for exactly the same act on a cell phone (both were for sexual reasons or they would have had their clothes on!). Many of the naked teen pictures that adults are going to prison for now where created by willing teens sending them! But teens get caught doing the same exact things…suddenly it’s called sexting.
Do parents realize that sexting can be/is the next step toward having sex? Both of my daughters received naked pics from boyfriends as a way of testing them to get a reaction. If they sent one back of themselves, sex was closer at hand. If they reject it, the boys seemed to move on. Sexting can be innocent, yes, but it is also what predators do to test for future advancement of grooming their next victim. Teens say that it’s innocent fun, okay, but the one sending it ALWAYS has ulterior motives, and sex is at the top of the list (or why send it naked)!!! Anyone that finds this the least bit ‘’innocent’’ is part of the problem…. Teens now waste an EXTREME amount of time on cell phones. A Sprint official stated that cell phones issued to teens average 1,200 test messages per month (not even counting sending naked pictures [which the cell phone company can see by the way!]).
Teens are pulling quite the con to get parents to think it’s just a hobby or fad, try convincing a prosecutor of that. Sending teen pornography is illegal and they should get a record for doing it (unless stealing, robbing banks, and shoplifting is now legal for teens). Would you allow another teen to keep waving a bottle full of wine at your teen and expect it NOT to go to the next level sooner or later; drinking.
Parents and prosecutors must realize that sexting is sending pornography and illegal at the state and federal level, and must be enforced – or the rapes, molestings, and bad happenings are going to multiply so fast that they won’t have enough counselors and jails for it all. It does no good to check your child’s phone, as files can now be encrypted so that you never find them, let alone get them open!
SEXTING IS A CRIME AND GROOMING FOR PREDATORS, TEEN & ADULT, and if you don’t think that that lovable boyfriend is not looking for sex – I got a bridge to sell you! There are hundreds of thousands of men and women in prisons in the U.S. for making pornography, what makes a teen think they can make it legally? There are hundreds of thousands of men and women in U.S. prisons for sending and/or receiving teen pornography. Why should teens be able to send it with impunity?! It should be legal for all – or illegal for all. PERIOD!
Very few adults that look at pornography at home go out and commit a crime, in fact, it’s more likely that a teen looking at a naked picture on a cell phone or home computer will commit a sex crime because they do not have the restraints that an adult does (hopefully). Interestingly enough, adult sexual acts go down the more they view pornography; tending to satiate on it and move on. So if anyone should not be looking at naked pictures…it’s teenagers!
Teens have been doing this for ten years (at least), and sending them to all U.S. states and around the world – catch on, they are breaking the law, no excuses, or make it legal for all to do. And what if a child in another state where it’s legal sends one to a child in another state? All states should be legal, or none. Home computers have been sending pornography (to and from minors) for 20 years, the cell phone just got cameras 10 years ago, now they send pornography on cell phones – no difference, they just changed the name out of denial.
If I rob a bank in a VW, or rob a bank in a Chevy, is there a difference? I robbed the bank! I sent pornography! A modem in a cell phone and a modem in a home computer are the EXACT same vehicle of transmission. ALL use Interstate phone lines, so the federal government has jurisdiction and should say ‘no’ to sexting; period. Or any parent can simply say it’s their child’s phone. You know that families swap phones to go shopping, to school, on a trip, etc. The parents will be in possession of the phone with naked pictures in the memory, or hidden in a file, but they are in possession of child pornography and should be charged as well. Legal for all, or legal for none.
And if you think it’s an innocent act, why don’t they send a picture with clothes on? They are trying to get the other person excited and groomed for a future sexual situation. Grow up America, ALL naked picture-senders get a “recordâ€, or none; selective prosecution is unconstitutional…. If you want to see that sending pornography is legal for teens, then you MUST let the hundreds of thousands go in prisons for the exact same thing! It’s all sexual in nature, period. Just changing the name to sexting doesn’t make it moral (or a lot of bars will quickly be re-named churches), and I can rob a bank and simply change the words to ‘early withdrawal’ and it’s legal – NOT!
This opens the door to making/selling/using drugs by 15 year olds and giving the exact same excuse (just a silly teen, let them go)! Or how about stealing a car! Shooting a gun! Robbing someone! So let all pornography makers/senders/lookers go or start building larger juvenile jails – because they are also criminals. There is NO WAY that parents can control their own children on this, or most subjects any more. Most teens can run circles around parents where cell phones are the topic, pictures buried deep within hidden files.
Parents are pressuring prosecutors to let their children go because of sexting, fine, silly teen, slap on the wrist, but how about the adults that simply looked at teen pornography free on their home computers with no ill-will in mind? They lose a spouse, house, job, career, families, friends, savings – it’s all the same thing, minor pornography, and parents are in denial if they defend it. One mother even got on the news and stated that her daughter should not be prosecuted for sexting because she has the right to email topless pictures of herself. Well, guess what, I understand Art is beautiful, but sending naked pictures to others (especially uncontrolled hormonal boys) is called being a ‘prick-tease’ and winding up a hormonal boy, then shutting him down, is the fastest way to a rape that there is! Even sending girl-to-girl is dangerous as mega jealousy and violence runs rampant in lesbian mentalities (10% of population).
Do you really expect a teen to legally send pornography for years, then they hit 18 and cannot do it any more?! That would be like telling teens that they can drink alcohol all they want in public for free, then at 18 they are criminals if they do it. MOST Homo sapiens will become addicted to a thrilling thing if they are allowed to do it unrestrained, and America’s teens are no different. The prisons are full of people that simply looked at pornography and their lives were ruined (they didn’t produce it, they didn’t buy it, most just looked at it). Now an entirely new generation will be legally aloud to produce it, send it, and receive naked pictures of minors – that CANNOT happen – or the hundreds of thousands of U.S. adults that did the “exact same thing†must be released.
One news article in Vermont said that sexting was simply a fad…. We are dealing with hormonal teens that now have a way to produce, send or receive anything they want; period. Wait until they grow up, you WILL NOT believe what type of society we have then! Well over 50% of children are molested by their own siblings or friends now, wait until those pictures spread uncontrolled. The technology Genie is out of the bottle. Don’t believe me? Try taking a cell phone away from a teen….
Take away ALL camera cell phones from teens – or start saving for legal bills, because most teens have either created, sent, or received teen pornography. A recent study says that 20% “admitted†sending or receiving teen sexting pornography, but it is closer to 90%, as most teens know that surveys can be traced back for anti-suicide purposes so they are not honest with their answers. And even if someone sends a naked picture to them and they delete it, it is still in the cell phone’s memory chip! The chip itself would have to be replaced to remove the evidence from law enforcement, and even then the buffer at the cell phone company will retain the picture for many years (assuming no one on the Internet finds it). Then, if that teen grows up to be famous, run for election, or just makes mega bucks, that memory can easily relieve a foolish teen’s act to build up their sad ego – and destroy any future for them. EVERYTHING is recorded now; cell phone conversations, land line phone calls, text messages, pictures sent on cell phones and computers, Internet sites, what sites you look at & buy, and even HAM radio transmissions are recorded by the FCC.
If teens can change the name of sending pornography to ’sexting’, I can change the name of illegal drugs to ‘happy time.’ Happy days are here again…and when a teen gets caught with drugs (happens a thousand times a day in the U.S.) their new defense will be that they re-named it, just like producing & sending pornography has been changed to sexting. Adults are sooooo stupid….. And when a kid slaps their mother, it will be re-named ‘parental corrective measure’. And when a boy wets his bed and a father kills him, it will be re-named ‘fair punishment.’ And when a girl shoplifts, it will be re-named ‘temporarily borrowed’. I knew that kids were getting smarter with technology, but adults aren’t supposed to lose their brains – don’t you see the con job being played on American adults by today’s teens (especially after they get caught)?!
Teens cannot be allowed to take nude pictures and send them to anyone, regardless of thier excuse when caught. Whether the picture is of themselves, a friend, a younger sibling, parents caught in bed making love, a cell phone snuck under a divider in a public restroom, gym locker room at school – there is no excuse for anyone sending naked pictures! And society cannot say that it is okay to do so until age 18 then suddenly quit when they have now had child pornography around them for so many years; they would not stop. You either have to make it legal for all people to do so, or stop it for all.
There are tens of thousands of U.S. adults in prisons now for simply looking at naked pictures of children from the news group areas that did not pay anything for them, and oddly enough many of them were created voluntarily by the teen themselves, then sent out into the world, never to be retrievable again….
It has to be legal for all or none. The main argument for making it legal for all is that as more adults satiate themselves by looking at it, they are much less likely to act out on thier thoughts. It’s the person that does not see it that is driven to act out….
Another view is to legalize it so that it has no high price and children would not then be forced into doing it. This is like legalizing drugs, then the price would drop 1,000% and it could be taxed, purified, and tobacco framers could grow it instead of being subsidized a billion dollars a year not to grow anything (your tax dollars actually pay farmers not to grow crops!). Imagine how much less crime there would be if half a million drug attics were not forced into burglary, robbery, and prostitution to come up with pawnshop cash for $200 a day habits?! This would also crush the mafia-like organizations around the world that rake off billions per year on illegal drugs & porn.
Has no one realized that we spend billions per year to ”attempt” to control the drug and porn markets, which we can never even slow down, yet if it was legal we could rake in billions and control it with taxes, licensing, business permits, etc. By making it illegal we increase it’s price a thousand fold and feed the pockets of illegal organizations and unions that control our political system….
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