General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMany Young Kids Are Sexting, But Should Parents Panic?
http://www.alternet.org/many-young-kids-are-sexting-should-parents-panicTwenty percent of middle-school students with cellphones send and recieve sexually explicit messages and are likely to be more sexually active, a national study by the journal Pediatrics says.
As part of its Youth Behavior Risk Study, the journal found that students who say they send sexts are three times more likely to be sexually active and those who receive them are seven times more likely. While 20 percent of middle-school children reported receiving texts, only 5 percent reported sending them.
The study is the first to examine sexting among middle-school students and its relation to sexual activity. It found children in their pre- and early-teen years use their phones frequently (something parents already know). Some 68 percent of middle-school students said they had a cellphone for daily use and 39 percent of them said they send more than 100 text messages a day. The study found it was the group that texted frequently that was more likely to send and receive sexually explicit messages. That group was also more likely to be sexually active (defined as either oral, vaginal or anal intercourse) as well.
But Boston.com blogger Claire McCarthy says parents shouldnt panic about cellphones just yet:
So if you take a step back, another way to think about sexts as just another way socially connected youth explore and broadcast their sexuality. For some middle schoolers, sexting may even be seen as a safer alternative to actual sexual activity, a way of talking the talk without having to walk the walk.
That may be why sexting was more common among GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender) youthit's a way of connecting and experimenting that keeps some distanceand for those youth, distance may feel safer as they sort out how others may react to their sexual orientation.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Because at least the NSA, and possibly people working for the company whose software they're using to take or transmit those photos are seeing them as well as the intended recipients. Not to mention that even the intended recipients of 'au naturel' photos often end up making them public, or having their parents find out and turn over the sender to the police.
MH1
(17,600 posts)On a random occasion someone might view some random bit of traffic but except in the case where an actual perv is mistakenly hired by one of these outfits, no one is taking the time to peruse content that's passing through these systems; they're all too busy trying to keep their paycheck like every one else. I'm not saying it doesn't happen that a perv gets hired, or some slug takes a break and looks for something to laugh at (then forgets it completely when the work bell sounds and they go back to what they're supposed to be doing), but these are not routine things and the chance for any single individual being a victim of this is infinitesimally small.
The REAL issue, which you rightly raise, is that intended recipients can turn on the person and then misuse the photos to harm them, or at least embarrass them. OR, the kid makes the mistake every user makes at least once, and that is to send it to people it wasn't intended to go to (maybe the "public" .
So yeah, parents should try to prevent this behavior as much as possible, and try to make kids understand why it's a really bad idea to do it. (Kids WON'T understand though, hence it should be blocked as much as possible, at least until a certain age, like 45. Ok just kidding about 45.)
Scuba
(53,475 posts)WhiteTara
(29,722 posts)Tetris_Iguana
(501 posts)Sorry to be blunt, but might as well just tattoo 'DORK' to his or her forehead.
WhiteTara
(29,722 posts)Or maybe this is just fake concern? I'm old and I have old methods of child rearing. If it's too grown up, scale down.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)"You're not going out looking like THAT young lady!"....
So you'd just bring the make-up and/or clothing to school or a friend's house and change there. Or your friends would lend you their make-up or clothes. We weren't much different at knowing how to get around parental restrictions....
I've done a lot of self-examination of my own teen behavior since I do have a wild teen myself. There's a lot of denial on the part of parents that their rule-breaking wasn't "so bad". Or thinking their teen has always followed their rules (my oldest girl whose now 26 was the perfect angel... or so I thought!)
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)The lack of a cool phone (or even any phone at all) isn't any kind of a deterrent.
Personal experience here with my youngest daughter whose 17 yrs old....
Phones are so ubiquitous amongst teens - they all have them, if you do take your kids' phone away, its seen as such unfair punishment that it only means your punished teen has access to EVERYONE else's phone in "sympathy" for the "outrage" of confiscation or replacement with a Tracfone.
Lose, lose for the parent. At least with a smartphone you can enable the GPS so you always know where they are. Small comfort if your concern is sexting but if they are sexting they'll do it anyway, just with other technology or with a friends phone.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)phones and saw no need in middle school being a stay at home and around to take care of their needs and wants. it was really very interesting. my kids say i am strict in some areas, and the easiest mom in other, like loving accepting, allowing, listening, supporting.
so for the boys to have to navigate those handful of years being unlike all their peers was really a character building situation for them, where in ways, they were proud they were the few without phones. the stories of amazement, when others found out they did not have phone.
and the first phone was without photo.
i was not missing with it, and another line the boys clearly knew they were not participating in.
if a parent is fair, and has a connection, that can be done, and is a valuable lesson for the boys.
add on the monthly cost, and teaching frugality? it was all good.
and it is a blast for the kids when they hit that age they get a phone.
Tetris_Iguana
(501 posts)I sexted before it was even a word, and I turned out ok.
Worry? Sure parents always worry.
But panic... Really!?
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)about a year ago, read a study where it significantly dropped. it does seem to have creeped up a tad, but not near where it used to be.
the blogger is stupid. she tries to make it innocent and just taking place of sex, when the article reads, a kid is more likely. the article alone discounts her argument.
conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)Let them make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.
It's the only way to grow up.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)they need to learn how to navigate in a world that has boundaries and rules. and to be able to do it successfully.
simply taking the lazy parenting in, let kids be kids, in all the messed up world of the net is so very very irresponsible.
are you giving the kids the tools to address the mess? or are you throwing them out in the real world, to swim, before you have given them any tools or foundation or education in how to keep the head above water.
conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)But there's new ways to be sexually active in the 21st Century... and parents, as well as the law should take a more hands-off approach to dealing with it.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)the unconscious position of the girls once raped and shoved aside, all in "kids will be kids" exploration?
or maybe we should be sure to keep the hands off on a 12 yr old called slut even though she had never had her first kiss, to her death.
it would be the parents and cops hands off that seems to be the problem.
thank you know. i will educate my boys, and allow thought, and conversation, and exploring issues prior to them finding themselves in a situation, so they are more prepared to make the right, good, effective, successful choice in life.
fuck the hands off approach to parenting. we see the results.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)and the 2 should not be automatically linked.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)growth experience. something for a 11, 12 yr old to figure out all on their own, as they first step not only into puberty, but also sex. the adult world of sex. not the 11, 12 yr old innocent exploration world of sex.
this is exactly the realty and the parent that does not allow this to enter into the conversation does their children harm and a disservice.
Generic Brad
(14,275 posts)Whatever you try to shield or prevent your kids from doing, they will just come up with something else you never dreamed they would do. The best you can do is to talk honestly with your kids from an early age and be there to help them pick up the pieces when they stumble.
burkett.stjacques
(2 posts)Research looks like sexting could be part of normal adolescent behaviour
[link:http://tnyurl.nl/a/sextisnorm|