It's Time To Put and End to Sexting Essay

Kate Hafner’s article, “Texting May Be Taking a Toll” claims that texting is an issue to teenagers around the world. As an illustration, Hafner starts the article by identifying that teenagers send a drastic amount of texts in their everyday lives. according to the Nielsen Company, “American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008”(1). This is just one of the examples of many that portrays teenagers around the world send many text messages. Along with teenagers sending many texts a day, hafner also shows in this article that texting is affecting teenager's life in many different ways for example, preventing teenagers' way of becoming independent. Just as professor Turkle presented,

In the US today Americans recently discovered an emerging trend known as adolescent sexting. Sexting has been defined as the sending or receiving of sexually explicit or sexually suggestive images, messages, or video through a cellphone or the Internet; sexting can also be referred to as sending nudes. As Guidance Counselors at a High School it is imperative that we educate ourselves and our students on the consequences sexting may have. Many students fail to realize that once the photos or messages are sent there is no turning back. Those images/messages may be forwarded to audiences via the internet and various social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat etc. causing humiliation, depression and in some cases even causing suicide.

Sexting is imprudent, untoward, and unfortunately - not all that uncommon. In a recent study of college freshmen, thirty-one percent of the participants reported sending a sexting image of themselves in high school to someone else using a cell phone (Martinez-Prather, 28).This action is a felony crime in Kansas, punishable by up to thirty-four years in jail, a substantial fine, and inclusion on the registered sexual offender list for life (Mobile Media Guard). While this may seem like excessive punishment for sexting, this punishment in not specifically for sexing. Since Kansas has no laws directly related to sexting, when minors are involved in sexting, the laws they have broken are those

These are the reasons adolescents are an at-risked population. Times have changed and methods of communication have changes. Text messaging and social media are second natured to most teens. It is estimated that adolescents texts an average of 181 messages per day and 94% of adolescents use some form of social media. Healthcare professionals are researching ways to use mobile devices to engage adolescents in their healthcare. In addition to using schools for sexual education in adolescents, modern technology can be used to maintain communication with the adolescents. Mobile devices can be used to text reminders for screening or re-screening, condom availability, and risk-reduction tips. The definitive goal for all intervention is to promote healthy behavior and disease prevention. According to Pediatric Nursing, mobile and multimedia technologies show a promising correlation between adolescents and disease prevention

Text messaging took a big turn around when people started taking advantage of it and started sending rude, hateful, naughty stuff. Texting while driving, sexting, and bullying gave modern society a number of new challenges. Explicit photos were being sent out by mobile phones, where that led to be the biggest problem with texting. Teenagers began to think that it was okay to send nudes out, little did they know people started forwarding them to their friends. One in five teenage girls have admitted taking nudes of themselves (Cooke). Teenagers that take pictures can end up threatened or even humiliated,

Years of research show that texting is leading to an increase in social awkwardness in teens and children. “Nini Halkett has taught history there for two decades. As her students are increasingly immersed in texting, Halkett also finds them increasingly shy and awkward in person.” (Jennifer Ludden’s article “Teen Texting Soars; Will Social Skills Suffer?” paragraph 14). With a majority of teens feeling more at ease texting each other, this can and will lead to

Americans recently discovered an emerging trend known as adolescent sexting. Sexting has been defined as the sending or receiving of sexually explicit or sexually suggestive images, messages, or video through a cellphone or the Internet. Sexting can also be referred to as sending nudes. As Guidance Counselors at a High School it is imperative that we educate ourselves and our students on the consequences sexting may have. Many students fail to realize that once the photos or messages are sent, there is no turning back. Those images/messages may be forwarded to audiences via the internet and various social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat etc, causing humiliation, depression and in some cases even causing suicide.

Every generation experiences an event or societal change that influences adolescence. Technology, specifically cellular devices, have revolutionized the culture of dating and relationships. Sexting, by definition is sending someone sexually explicit photographs or messages via cell phone, has become the new normal for adolescents. More importantly, teen girls experience the pressure and repercussions of sexting. Whether a girl choses to do so or not, she is ridiculed for either being a “slut” or a “prude” amongst her peers. Our society projects women as sexual objects through images, films, and videos in media which teaches young female consumers to objectify themselves in order to capture the male gaze. Because our society is sexualized, it is no surprise that sexting has become part of dating and the gender script. The issues with sexting, particularly with adolescents females, is that it teaches them to sexually objectify themselves in order to win the boy and keep him interested. Unfortunately, if those explicit images circulate amongst other people, the girl gets bullied and slut-shamed.

This is due to the information stated previously. Instead of sexting between consenting minors not being considered a crime at all, it should be a crime with clear legal ramifications in order to protect and educate the adolescents. This is need to reflect society’s views and contribute to the creation of a social environment more protective of children and youths (Enns). The law is placed in order to protect the rights of the people and correct the behavior of a person. Since teen sexting is so closely related to child pornography since it include the sexual depiction of a minor without clear legal consequences it results in perpetual harm to the child and validate and normalize the sexual exploitation of children. Therefore, instead of charging minors under the laws of child pornography which can lead to sexual offender registration, jail time, and heavy fines, teen sexting should still be a crime but with specific laws pertaining to the adolescent in order to protect them from perpetual harm and educate them teaching them to create well thought out decisions and aid them in their path to

• During the week of November 12, 2013, the middle school counselors will be offering a program about technology safety and use of cellular phones, and computers in preventing various forms of harassment and sexting. The

Sexting on Snapchat spread because of teenagers and by teenagers who wanted to escape from their parents control and have something to do that felt private. “what really makes a new social network become popular fast? Teenagers.”

According to research, approximately “39% of teens between the ages of 13-19 years old have sent at least one sext message and 48% have received one sext message. Of the teens who sext, 63% said the photos were sent to a boyfriend/girlfriend, 29% said they sent them to somebody they were casually dating, 19% sent these photos to someone they didn’t know well and only met through a chatting app and 24% sent them to someone they only knew online. As for the reasons teens sext, 49% said it was harmless fun, 39% said they did it to receive photos back, 16% thought it was a normal thing to do, 16% said they did it because everybody else was doing it and 13% said they were pressured into sexting.”

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the sexting topic. I agree with you that it really comes down to the consenting individuals to determine if it is a negative or positive activity for them to participate in. If both sides are enjoying sexting and the boundaries are set, there is no reason why it should be frowned upon. I do think that there needs to be a discussion about whether or not the other person likes sexting or would like to participate in sexting. It does need to be treated like actual sex. There has to be consent.

Over the last few years, there has been a lot of discussion and debate over the topic of sexting. It has become a widespread phenomenon, the number of teenage girls and boys, men and women who participate are rapidly increasing, and with this too comes the rise of moral panic within societies. Individuals within the communities are becoming more and more fearful, afraid and shocked at this new form of youth culture hysteria. Although young people ‘expressing’ their sexuality has become much more open and free as of the last decade or so, the real uproar of panic is due to the risks they involving themselves in as well as the damage and harm they are inflicting on themselves, whether they know it or not.

Two years ago the word sexting did not exist. The combination of the words “sex” and “text” is now a term that is heavily discussed and causes issues for parents, students, educators, and law enforcement. Although there is no legal definition of sexting, it generally refers to writing sexually explicit messages, taking sexually explicit photos of themselves or others in their peer group and technologically transmitting those photos and/or messages to their peers. Now many people don’t know the problems associated with sexting. Most of these problems occur when one or all parties are minors. When a minor is involved there can be serious consequences that can follow a person for a life time.