Sexting Extremely Dangerous and Popular Among Teens

Recently, we have been hearing news about sexting scandals happening all over the country and even very close to home. Teens as young as eleven have become involved in sexting and it may have some dangerous outcomes such as depression and in extreme cases, suicide. With the ability to send pictures, on apps like SnapChat, Instagram, Facebook and through regular SMS messaging, more and more teens are taking part in sexting. It has become a “normal” part of dating for youth in this generation. The motivation behind sexting is a large mixture of emotions and intentions and for some teens sexting has become addiction similar to drugs.

Teens feel a sense of satisfaction after sending their love interest a picture of themselves especially when they receive compliments after sending the picture. But those feeling start to change drastically after the picture is copied and shared with other friends. The picture can ultimately fall into the hands of strangers and even child predators. Even if the teen isn’t comfortable with sending risqué pictures, there is good chance that they will be pressured into sending it or they may decide to send it because their friends are doing it too. According to MTV.com, “Nearly one in five sext recipients report that they have passed the images along to someone else, with more than half saying that they just assumed others would want to see them, followed by a desire to show off and boredom. According to an MTV poll, three in 10 young people reported that they’d been involved in some type of naked texting."

Most teenagers are not aware of the fact that the picture will never die. It will forever be living somewhere in a phones hard drive or on the internet. It is extremely difficult and in some cases impossible to pull a picture off of the web depending on how far it’s been spread. If a teenager finds out that his or her picture had been posted on the internet or sent to a large number of people, they will most likely not share the information with their parents. Therefore, parents need to take action before their teen is drowning in the middle of this awful situation. Also, if your child is caught sending indecent pictures of another person the can face serious criminal charges.

 Liz Wilson from Vodaphone for stuff.co.nz stated, “Parents have long been concerned about online predators, or their children stumbling across pornography, but now they’re increasingly concerned about sexting and cyberbullying.” The best way to prevent teen sexting is to install a cell phone spy software on your child’s phone. You will need an app where you can monitor your child’s online behavior and their text messages. After doing some research we have concluded that the best spy app for teen monitoring is Highster Mobile. You can look at cell phone spying without installing software but the best programs need to be purchased. The app has numerous powerful features such as, the ability to read text messages, iMessages, view calls, photo and videos, browser history, track GPS location and much more. It is extremely easy to install and if you have any issues, you can speak to a customer service representative for assistance.

You can’t be by your child’s side every second of the day and these new ridiculous teen trends and activities aren’t going to disappear any time soon. Being proactive and monitoring your child’s activity will ensure that they will stay out of trouble on their cell phones.