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Can you believe this? Teenagers are sending nude pictures and even videos on their cell phones and they don't think there's anything wrong with that? My kids are too young for this, but I think I would get my child a phone without the ability to take pictures!
Here's the story we ran on HOI 19 today:
Forget about passing notes in study hall. Central Ohio school officials say teens are now using their cell phones to send nude pictures of themselves to each other. The principal at Columbus' Olentangy Liberty High School says the situations have left him speechless.
He says the teens don't see anything wrong with sharing nude pictures of themselves by cell phones. A detective from the F.B.I. cyber crime task force says he has seen everything from a strip tease to explicit sex sent by cell phone.
He says the content sometimes makes its way to Internet web sites for others to see. Experts say teens often don't understand the dangers. They suggest parents pay attention to their kids' phones.
Why are teenagers doing this? I would love some insight. Low self-esteem? Peer pressure? Bad parents?
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
7 comments:
It's just my opinion but I think it is because they want to, they can, and nobody is really making a serious effort to stop them. Every generation of teens eventually wish to rebel, to be "different" from their parents. I think it gets more outrageous the less the parents pay attention, but I also think those parents who freak out only feed it. Treat them like adults, it confuses them.
Part of it is because it's now "cool" to do this. Take, for example, the whole Vanessa Hudgens blowup where she was sending nude photos of herself.
She gets all this press for that and doesn't really take too much of a PR hit, so they think it's ok.
Plus, they probably, in a warped adolescent framework, think it's a safer way of being rebellious and doing things to fit in with others than doing drugs or drinking alcohol.
Yes, I really think the teens are unable to see the possible harm or danger. I think it's similar to the increasing prevelance of oral sex, the message has become "abstinence," which they interpret as no vaginal intercourse, and the whole focus has been on not getting pregnant, not getting diseases; that the emotional impact of these acts is totally being ignored.
It is sad if kids really think it's "cool" to send each other nude pictures. Maybe they need another outlet for their rebellion. I agree with Jennifer that teens aren't taught about the emotional impact of sex, just about the physical problems.
I think it is a variety of things, and no one element can be the sole element to blame.
Personally, I don't see the nudity as an issue, but rather the text messaging naked pics are the problem for me. Let's say BoyB texts his girlfriend (GirlG) a naked pic. She posts it on the net without his consent. Then there are problems... bigger problems than nudity.
Maybe I have been influenced by living in Europe, where you can sunbath in parks topless? It's a different mindset. Nudity is nudity. What you do with it and how you interpret it-- that's the difference.
It is amazing what technology has done to make monitoring our kids so difficult. My kids are only 6 and 5 right now, but this is concerning. I remember the day of only having to worry if my mom found the handwritten notes we passed in class revealing our shenanigans over the weekend. Now kids text it and can erase it in seconds. The pornography and questionable content that is so easily at their fingertips is truly frightening.
KEEP BELIEVING (my blog name)
I never thought I'd be writing this. I am a mom whose daughter did this very thing just last week. My husband and I are still in shock and disbelief. We thought we were doing the right things with our kids; open dialogue, talks about bad choices, etc., etc. We never said specifically "never send a nude picture of yourself via text".... but I never would have dreamed that we would have had to. We have sought counseling for our daughter, but what is becoming more apparent to me is that current teenagers don't quite grasp the ramifications of all of this. The "me generation" has a very different attitude about issues like this. As her mom, I have experienced every negative emotion possible over this. I wish I had never given her a phone with a camera on it. I still find it almost unimagineable that she could be enticed into doing such an act. I'd really appreciate any comments or help that anyone might offer.
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