“MPICIMFP, so its been a pretty rough day but hey PAW text you later!” Now, I am sure most of you are thinking “What the hell does that mean!?!?”, I thought the exact same thing. This my friends, is an example of a text I found in my twelve year old sisters phone who she was “sexting”. After reading this text and discovering I have become way out of the loop with the whole “sexting” trend, I decided to do a little research to understand more. While I was googling “sexting” I found many interesting facts about this new trend and how it is extremely harmful, way more harmful than I ever thought.
I learned the basic fundamentals, I guess one could say, that “sexting” is when people, mostly teens, flirt with one another by sending nude or semi nude photos from cell phone to cell phone. Now people, especially teens, who are sexting trust the other person on the other end to not share this information publically, but sadly every person is betrayed. Some way or another and for some reason, that photo will eventually be shared to their close circle of friends, to their community, and eventually to the whole public. And not to put this sharing aspect on guys only, because I am sure girls do it too, but the male population is known to be the one to share the pictures publically.
It makes me sad though, because most people, who decide to sext one another, don’t think about the dangerous consequences that can stem from “sexting”. Yes, behaving provocatively and impulsively is not new among our society, especially with teens, what is new though is now these provocative and impulsive actions can now transform into haunting the person, resulting in serious damage.
While doing my little investigation, I found a video online which will perfectly show the consequences of what can happen if you text, post, etc. an inappropriate picture with someone.
The above video is perfect to illustrate the damage one little text can have. The consequences can lead to jail time. For instance, in Wisconsin a seventeen year old was charged with holding child pornography when he was caught for posting naked pictures of his sixteen-year-old ex-girlfriend via the Internet. Or how in Rochester N.Y a sixteen-year-old boy got sentenced with seven years in prison for sharing a nude photograph of his fifteen year old girlfriend to his friends.
This new trend of “sexting” is increasingly growing to be an issue in society and causing problems. It has become crucial for parents, teachers, mentors, etc. to start talking to children about the consequences. Children need to start understanding that even though these pictures may not have immediate consequences; they can re-surface in the future to haunt them when they are applying for a job or college. I shared this information with my sister who was so appalled and freaked out she told her friends and they, to my knowledge, stopped. With that being said, its something to think about… Until next time!
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