Sexting and younger generations

As someone with two younger siblings, 14 and 16 I found it intriguing, yet scary in a way to delve into a topic we didn’t discuss much in class – sexting. In terms of sexting, I think the biggest issue around the topic is lack of education. When we look at studies regarding sexting, there are younger and younger generations beginning to engage themselves in this dark side of communication, most of the time unaware they’re doing so.

One cyber civics teacher in California, Diana Graber, said she was surprised at the reactions from her students when she introduced a chapter focused on sexting.  A majority of her students admitted to knowing what sexting was and or participating in the act themselves, but what shocked her the most was their lack of knowledge in terms of the legal consequences they could potentially face. When kids are at a younger age, they’re not as conscious as older teens are when it comes to social media or computer mediated communication in any term. Just as someone of a younger age would be more prone to post an inappropriate comment on Facebook because he or she don’t think of the consequences before doing so compared to an older teen, the same thing happens with sexting. In a study published by Pediatrics, “Sexting and Sexual Behavior in At-Risk Adolescents,” the children in the study who ranged from 12 to 14-years-old were “4 to 7 times more likely to engage in a variety of sexual behaviors.” We obviously see young teens throughout society acting on impulse and falling into peer pressure every day and when it comes to sexting, this is another increasing issue. Just like these kids aren’t thinking twice before hitting the ‘send’ button because they more than likely aren’t considering the legal factors that could potentially come into play, they’re being just as impulsive and not thinking twice before they actually engage in the behaviors they’re talking about because of one big factor in my opinion — lack of education.

                 Sexting is clearly impacted by the advancements in technology over the years. Even when we were 12 or 14 — not that long ago — having a smart phone or being so wrapped up in acting more mature wasn’t as common as it is nowadays. It’s easy for these young teens to act as naïve as they are when sending messages about inappropriate things because they more than likely have no idea what they’re talking about. Yet when those conversations turn into a reality, that’s when we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Though parents or older adults supervising these kids may want to turn a blind eye when it comes to sexting, they need to start accepting that the more they feed into these behaviors by for example either giving their kids more “freedom” on social media sites or allowing them to have a smart phone by age 10, this ongoing unintentional ignorance toward sexting and online sexual conversations will worsen.

http://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/Teens-Who-Sext-Are-More-Likely-to-Engage-in-Other-Sexual-Behaviors.aspx

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/18/living/teens-sexting-what-parents-can-do/