Pandora’s Blog

I’ve seen stories on this for a while now and though it’s not “computer” related, per se – thus, something PC Pandora would not be able to monitor – I feel I need to do my due diligence here and discuss sexting. There is actually a connection to PC Pandora that I will explain later.

“Sexting” is the new casual activity that teens are engaging in that will shock parents out of their shoes. “Sexting” is the act (or art, depending on who you ask) of sending a nude photo of yourself to a boyfriend, girlfriend, crush or “casual acquaintance’ via text messaging on cell phones. Typically, the photos are accompanied by a raunchy flirtatious message.

Obviously you can see where the issue lies. Other than the fact that kids to ay have lower than zero respect for themselves, they don’t realize that what they are engaging in is the producing and distribution of child pornography.

While ‘sext’ messages float around from phone to phone like wildfire, it is only a matter of time before the photos are sent to an email address, thus making their way to the internet. Once they are on the internet, child predators, pornographers and all the other guys you don’t want to see your child revealing themselves to is going to get a hold of it.

So, while PC Pandora can’t monitor your child’s cell phone, it can monitor your child’s online activity. It’ll let you see if they are sharing photos like this and passing them around or – worse – producing them.

As for monitoring the cell phone usage, well – I am assuming you (mom and dad) are paying for it, so take it and check the content. Very easy to do.

Below are a couple of stories relating to sexting, though there are many more as this seems to be the new story-du-jour as related to kids and technology. Check ‘em out and check your kid’s cell phones periodically!

January 25, 2009
SEX ‘CELLS’ FOR NAKED TEENAGERS
By Susannah Cahalan, New York Post

Spin the bottle? Seven minutes in heaven? That’s so last generation.

This year’s teen courting ritual is “sexting” – sending nude photos of yourself to a boyfriend, girlfriend, crush or casual acquaintance from your cellphone with a raunchy text message attached.

A nearly naked 15-year-old Manhattan girl bent over in front of a mirror, put a camera between her legs and, click, sent a photo of her nude backside to her boyfriend – who then had no problem forwarding the pics to The Post.

Alex, 19, of The Bronx, received his first “sext” from a girl he met at a party. Instead of calling him the next day, she sent him topless photos.

“I didn’t even know what to think,” he said. “I was confused.”

Twenty percent of 13- to 19-year-olds admitted they’ve messaged explicit images of themselves over the phone and e-mail, and 48 percent said they’ve received sexually suggestive e-mails or text messages, according to a national study published last month.

More than 50 percent of the girls who “sexted” did so under pressure from boyfriends, according to the survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

“Trust me, a lot of couples do it,” said a 15-year-old high-school sophomore from New Jersey, who confessed to firing off 40 naked pictures of herself to her ex-boyfriend in a failed attempt to win him back. “It’s just like another form of sex.”

Facebook and MySpace are crawling with groups with names like “I’ve Sent Naked Pictures of Myself Over the Phone,” “People Who Take Naked Pictures of Themselves with Their Phones,” and “Practicing Safe Sexting.” The latter group advises, “Don’t do it in school” and “Don’t do it with a minor.”

One 16-year-old from New Jersey described the pressure to follow the trend: “[My ex-boyfriend] kept asking me, and it was annoying,” so she finally did it.

Luckily, her photos never went public – but many do.

Mike, an 18-year-old from Great Neck, LI, received explicit photos of a 15-year-old classmate he barely knew.

“By the time I got the pictures, there was no need to forward them because mostly everyone had already seen them,” he recalled, estimating they cycled through 400 cellphones.

Bad reps might be the least of the worries confronting teen who sex-message.

Six high-school students from Greensburg, Pa., were hit with charges of possessing, manufacturing and distributing child pornography this month after nude pictures that had circulated around their school were confiscated from a male student’s phone.

February 11, 2009
Cape youths face charges for ’sexting’
By Aaron Gouveia, capecodonline.com

FALMOUTH — Six middle school students could face child pornography charges after snapping a photo of a nude female classmate and distributing it through their cell phones, a practice known as “sexting,” according to police.

The group of six boys, ages 12 to 14, were not arrested, police said, but will be summonsed to Falmouth District Court. The charges vary depending on the individual but include possessing or exhibiting a photograph of a child in a sexual act, distributing material of a child in a sexual act, and possession of child pornography — all felony charges.

On Jan. 15, police said they were contacted by Paul Fay, principal of the Lawrence School, after he discovered a photograph of a naked 13-year-old girl on the cell phones of six male students. Police said the cell phones were confiscated immediately, and they do not believe the picture was sent elsewhere or posted on the Internet.

One of the boys allegedly took the photo of his 13-year-old girlfriend with his cell phone, then sent it to friends electronically, police said.

Falmouth police spent two weeks investigating the boys.

A hearing to determine whether the boys will be charged has not yet been scheduled, police said.

Police said the names of those allegedly involved have not been released, and the hearing will not be open to the public because the suspects are minors.

Falmouth Supt. of Schools Marc Dupuis said, first and foremost, “we have no evidence that this occurred in the school or on school grounds.”

He said school officials are currently working on bringing in guest speakers to inform students on the dangers of “sexting,” and all parents at the school will be receiving a letter regarding the subject.

“We’re taking this very seriously and working to inform parents to talk to their kids about the seriousness and inappropriateness of this kind of behavior,” Dupuis said.

Dupuis said the six boys are currently still in school and have not, as of yet, been suspended.

Instances of sexting have been on the rise lately, as more and more teens distribute naughty self-portraits electronically.

Six teens in Greensburg, Pa., were hit with child pornography charges for sending and receiving nude pictures of classmates last month.

Closer to home, a number of Billerica middle-school students are under investigation after school administrators found a nude photo of a 14-year-old girl was being circulated among the student body via cell phone.

Dr. Sari Locker, a sex educator and professor of adolescent psychology at Columbia University, said one out of every five teens has either sent or received nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves or others electronically, according to a survey from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

But what started as a way to be flirtatious may end up accelerating the dating process and the speed at which sexual behavior is initiated, Locker said.

“When boys receive a nude picture of a girl, they think the next time they see her they can go further with her in a sexual way than before,” Locker said. “It becomes an invitation to advance a sexual relationship.”

While shocking to some, Locker said the behavior itself is akin to how older generations of men crowded around a Playboy magazine, or how couples took Polaroid pictures of themselves as flirtatious gifts for one another.

The difference now, Locker said, is technology.

Digital pictures and cell phone camera technology make it simple to send to a friend or post on the Internet, where everything is permanent and nothing is private, Locker said.

But she frowns upon charging young children with child pornography and said this behavior doesn’t reflect children’s sexual activity but their desire to attract each other and begin dating.

“Clearly these boys are not sexual predators or pedophiles,” Locker said. “They’re looking at a girl who’s the same age as they are, and they have a healthy curiosity.”

The solution, according to Locker and police, is for parents to talk to their kids and stress the importance of never posing for, or distributing, any nude photos. Locker also said parents can choose to buy their kids cell phones without the ability to take pictures or video.

Teen photos
This survey of people ages 13-26, fielded online to a total of 1,280 respondents – 653 teens (ages 13-19) and 627 young adults (ages 20-26), found:

• 20 percent of teens have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude pictures or video of themselves.
• 71 percent of teen girls and 67 percent of teen boys who sent or posted sexually suggestive content say they have sent that content to a boyfriend or girlfriend.
• 38 percent of teen girls and 39 percent of teen boys say they have had sexually suggestive text messages or e-mails mistakenly sent to them.

Source: National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 2:29 PM and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.