Sexting and Teens

According to my 12 year old, he is the only child his age in the world who doesn't have a cell phone. A slight exaggeration at best. While statistics on cell phone use among those 11 and up are not easy to find, you simply need to look around you to see that most middle school and high school students have cell phones. They report that their phones are important way to stay connected to friends, mostly via texting. Some parents report too, that they have learned to embrace texting as a way to stay in touch with their kids. They even like that they feel cool staying connected using this 21st century medium.

Of course, cameras on cell phones are pretty much standard today. I admit to loving the convenience of my cell phone camera. It's so much easier to take a picture with my cell phone, email to myself and then send it to friends and family than it is with my regular digital camera. Cell phone cameras are the polaroids of our kid's generation.

Sadly, our kids may understand the technology of the camera but they don't understand the legal issues that lurk behind them. I am referring to a practice called "sexting." Sexting is the practice of sending suggestive pictures around via cell phones, email and other social networking media (IE MySpace, FaceBook, etc). This may seem like a new rite of passage but many in the law enforcement community look on it in a different way. Case and point. A NJ girl was recently arrested after she posted naked pictures of herself on her MySpace page in order to impress her boyfriend. She is being charged with distributing child pornography.

Sexting must be taken seriously by everyone. Our children have a lot to lose by sending naked pictures back and forth and pretty much nothing to gain. Kids convicted of child pornography because of sexting can be required to register as sex offenders. This will limit their ability to attend college, get gainful employment, babysit, volunteer in schools or churches. The list is too long.

The ACLU is taking up the case of sexting. Hopefully this will encourage law enforcement to take a softer approach with kids who practice this act. But parents need to do something too. We need to talk to our kids and let them know that the consequences for this seemingly minor engagement can be dire. We need to make sure they let us know if they receive any of these pictures and make clear what we plan to do when given this information. Will you call the sender's parents and let them know what's happening? Will you inform the school so information can be distributed to the community at large? Will you simply have your child delete the message and thank them for their openness?

All of these actions are acceptable. Sexting may seem to be a stupid act used to get attention. I won't get into the emotional issues that would cause a middle school student to distribute naked pictures of themselves. I am concerned with the major snowball effect this highly stupid activity can put into motion. As put by the director of the Ohio chapter of the ACLU, Jeffrey Gamso "Children do foolish things, and the remedy for foolish things is not criminal action. The remedy for what is going on, sexting, is not criminal prosecution. It is not delinquency prosecution. The remedy for this is education."

I encourage you to be the first place your kids get that education.