Monday, April 22, 2013

The Lure of Teen Sexting


Is the lure of sexting just another risk taking activity teens do? Sexting can be defined as sending explicit photos to someone’s cell phone or texting risqué sexual language to another cell phone. We all know as a teen, this is the time when risky behavior begins. When teens are asked if they know the legal ramifications if caught sexting, the common answer is “Yes, but it won’t happen to me.” 

Is the lure of sexting to become popular with the “in crowd” or is it the risk of doing something they know they should not be doing?  As sexting continues its popularity among teens parents and schools need to talk to the teens about where these pictures could end up…..on the desk of college admissions or future employers.

Another danger of sexting is how much the photos get sent around from cell phone to cell phone.  Many teen boys who receive an explicit photo,  don’t  kept it on their cell phone but pass it around to many other boys, whereas about only half of the teen girls who receive a sext, would send it around to a third party.  This is a good warning to girls not to start sexting photos of themselves because most likely these photos will be seen by many eyes.  Parents need to talk to their teens about the ramifications of sexting and how this risky behavior could end up costing them more than what they bargained for.   

Monday, April 15, 2013

Sexting Pressures Continue for Children


Are children more at risk from their peers than from an online predator? A new study may say yes. A new report called A Qualitative Study of Children, Young People and Sexting, which explored into understanding the nature of sexting and the role of mobile technologies within young people’s networks, found children are getting peer pressured to sext more than adults may expect. The report was commissioned by the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). The findings of the report came from small focused groups of 35 children ages from 8 to 10 years old from two inner city London schools.

The research found that these children are experiencing pressure from within their peer groups to share explicit photos of themselves. The girls are being asked by their boyfriends to send them pictures of their body parts. To take it a step further, the boys are requesting the girls to write in black marker over her body part indicating it belongs to a certain boy. Furthermore, these explicit photos are being shared within their peer groups by sending them to their cell phones so a boy could have up to a dozen or so explicit photos saved on his phone. 

If you look deeper into this research you can realize this is not only sexting but also a form of bullying because of the pressure it puts on these children to send inappropriate photos that are being passed around to other peers. Likewise, this is objectifying girls at such a young age in both the eyes of the sender and receivers. 

The cell phone is giving children a feeling of liberation of what is really right from wrong. The digital age is making it much easier for children to say lewd comments about someone and ask someone to send an explicit photo with a click of a button. I don’t know too many boys who would walk up to a girl and say take your clothes off so I can take a picture and pass it around to all my friends.  But give them a cell phone and watch all their ethical reasoning get lost. For parents who would like to keep track of your children’s contacts and messages on their cell phone, check out My Mobile Watchdog.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Mobile Parental Controls


Do parents have mobile parental controls on their smartphones? I ask this because of how often I see kids grab their parents’ smartphone and start playing a game or searching the internet.  Other times, I see a parent taking a walk or jog with their toddler in the stroller and a smartphone in their toddler’s hand. I ask myself, are these parents using mobile parental controls. This may sound comical or ridiculous, but let’s face it, no matter what age your child is 2 to 18 years old they are all curious by nature and if there is something that catches their eye, they are going to click on it. 

So when are these parents going to start talking to toddlers about the wrongs and rights of using technology? Even if a parent hands their smartphone to their toddler with a game already up on the screen, most kids get bored of the same game after a month or so. And think about how easy it is to accidentally touch or click another part of the smartphone and it takes you to another screen.  Hopefully parents are constantly watching what their toddlers are playing and not relying on their smartphone as a babysitter. Remember, there are always board books for toddlers to look at and feel. 

What do you think is a good age to start educating young children about the internet?