The Dangers Of Sexting In Middle School

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 has been all over the news. Of course its normal for someone to want to send a naughty picture to the significant other, but now we have teens (and even pre-teens) sending nude pictures to get attention from someone of the opposite sex. The pictures usually end up all over the teens school. We live in a new day and age, but most adults would be mortified if a nude picture of them was seen by someone that wasn’t

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

Adolescents send messages to others in their schools, groups of friends, and their everyday peers. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy took a survey in 2008 and showed 39% of teenage girls had “sent or posted sexually suggestive messages (or ‘sexts’)” (450). To clarify, this means that young girls are sending naked pictures to people that they are associated with. They also proved 22% of young ladies have used a computerized device to send or upload an unclothed or sensuous photo.

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.

Researchers from the University of Utah’s Department of Psychology surveyed 606 teens ages 14-18 and found out that over 25% said that they had forwarded someone else's sext to another person (“Abbondanza.”). Some guys may send your sext out to other boys to prove that they are popular and it’s a way to show that they aren’t getting left out (“Sexting Among Teens Can Be Harmful.”). It also gives the boys bragging rights because they get to show off the pictures they are getting and use the pictures as a way of competition like saying “who can get the most sext.” If the sext gets into the hands of someone that doesn’t like you then they may send it around to people as a way to get back at you or a form of blackmail (“Sexting Among Teens Can Be Harmful.”). If your sext gets out and people start threatening you with it, it may lead you to do bad things like taking your life.

Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t… If You’re A Girl: Relational and Normative Contexts of Adolescent Sexting in the United States is a study by which researchers Julia R. Lippman and Scott W. Campbell investigate the teenage phenomenon of sexting. Their study looks at the

Some states have enacted laws against sexting that occurs between teenagers, with penalties that aren't as severe as those that apply to an adult who sends illicit images to an underage person. Other states punish sexting under pre-existing laws against child enticement

Parents also need to educate themselves about the problem of "sexting", including the potential issues of this behavior, and the resources which can help them address the issue with their children. (Social Policy Law, 2015)

Most of the times parents are not aware that sexting and cyberbullying is common among teens. Children often embrace texting to communicate with friends on a cell phone. For instance, teens might think it's sexy to take and send nude pictures of themselves to someone else, or they might think it's funny to forward along pictures of someone else this is known as “sexting”. Monitoring lets you step in and stop the behavior. In the same way as “Sexting” is dangerous, so it's “Cyberbullying”. Cyber bullying is really no different from traditional bullying. The main difference is that it utilizes the communicative nature of the internet to perform the bullying actions. The psychological impact remains the same. Monitoring can alert you if someone may be bullying your child – or if your child has been bullying someone else. If your child is chatting with friends about illegal activities, suspicious behavior or maybe even committing suicide, you will have the chance to intervene before anything actually

Therefore, a clear and precise definitions of sexting and laws against it should protect and teach minors from exposing themselves to unwanted audience, and protect them from adults trying to exploit or abuse

Here is current situation teens young boys and girls are sexting back and forth. Our goals is to tell everyone about the dangers of sexting and what could happen if you sexts. Some people came to our school and talk about sexting. the people who can help you are the police or adults can help you, but remember don't ask some for one or don't send one. This is important to us because I don’t want teens or young girls/boys get in trouble for creating or sending the sext on. I am also doing this for the receiver they should know what to do if they get a sexts. There can be a lot of major charges to, like child pornography, distribution, and possession any of those are a crime and you can be sent to prison. if you create the photo which means child

One serious issue is sexting, Sexting among teens is not only illegal, but harmful and dangerous among the sender and the receiver. Both are held responsible for child pornography and can be dealt serious consequences. Sexting causes an increase in teen suicides, anxiety self-esteem and involves pressure meaning another forum cyberbullying. Exposing these pornographic photos will not only stress the deliverer but lead to sexual harassment in conclusion.

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.