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.
These are realities that Parents don't want to face..."my child wouldn't participate in such behavior we think," well it's not just your child. Our children are susceptible to other children asking them to participate, just as this article describes.
ReplyDeleteBe involved! From ages 10-12 there is a fine line they of knowing what is appropriate, and what is not as far as sexuality. Finally, programs such as "My Mobile Watchdog," do help parenting. The old adage, "trust, but verify;" sums this up.
Yes, this problem of other kids pressuring others is getting bigger and bigger and now with the cell phones it is only adding more pressure on the kids to do things they may not have considered in the first place.
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