More than a quarter of young people have sent or received sexually explicit content on their cell phones, or “sexted,” according to an Associated Press-MTV poll.
About half the respondents said they thought sexting was no big deal while the other half participated even though they knew there could be legal consequences. From the Associated Press:
Research shows teenage brains are not quite mature enough to make good decisions consistently. By the mid-teens, the brain’s reward centers, the parts involved in emotional arousal, are well-developed, making teens more vulnerable to peer pressure.
But it is not until the early 20s that the brain’s frontal cortex, where reasoning connects with emotion, enabling people to weigh consequences, has finished forming.
Beyond feeling invincible, young people also have a much different view of sexual photos that might be posted online, Bogle said. They don’t think about the idea that those photos might wind up in the hands of potential employers or college admissions officers, she said.
“Sometimes they think of it as a joke; they have a laugh about it,” Bogle said. “In some cases, it’s seen as flirtation. They’re thinking of it as something far less serious and aren’t thinking of it as consequences down the road or who can get hold of this information. They’re also not thinking about worst-case scenarios that parents might worry about.”
Sexting doesn’t stop with teenagers. Young adults are even more likely to have sexted; one-third of them said they had been involved in sexting, compared with about one-quarter of teenagers.
Geez, there are so many things parents have to worry about today. Have any of you spoken to your teens about sexting? How do you make sure they don’t do it?
OMG
one more thing for me to freaking worry about. I am about to become Amish I swear…
it’s appealing some days
Of course, I just add it to the “reasons why DD doesn’t need a cell phone” list.
that’s my thinking
of course, my kids aren’t old enough to be nagging me for a cell phone yet.
haven’t yet
because our kids don’t have phones, but they are getting them for their 13th birthdays. They have reached the point where we drop them off for things [movies, football games] where they are not under the direct supervision of someone’s parent, but are just with friends. I always told them that when they reached that stage of life, we’d want them to have a phone so they could reach us if they needed.
So I guess I will have the conversation soon.
slightly O/T but I guess sexting is so common with some people, they have a hard time thinking of texting as anything else — to wit, last night’s episode of 30 Rock, Jenna says to Jack, “Jack, I got your business sext.” LMAO!
Hard to avoid…?
I don’t think sexting can be avoided. The best thing to do is have a talk with your kids about these things. Not that that guarantees they wont do it but at least they can be made aware of potential consequences. Btw, I wonder why MTV conducted this poll – do they want to check how well they have influenced our teenagers’ attitudes towards sex for the worse?