How our gadget-obsessed world is encouraging ‘sexting’ among adolescents
With the average 11-14 year-old already possessing a smartphone, possessing a Facebook page and being influenced by role-models such as Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus, there is no denying that the world is becoming hyper-sexualized and that too at a very young age. Admittedly, I’m only in my twenties, yet things such as ‘sexting’, ‘porn’ and dressing like a 21-year-old, remained completely foreign to me, despite also having a phone at that age. To me, my Gap jumpers and trainers were enough, perhaps the fact that my pay-as-you-go phone worked up until 7pm was an added bonus.
Yet the consequences of us becoming a gadget-obsessed world is seemingly having a direct effect on how sexualised children are becoming, at such a young age. Apps such as Snapchat, allowing you to send a three second picture of yourself to a friend before it deletes itself, has put ‘sexting’ and sending explicit photos in ‘fashion’. According to a new study, more high school students are sending and receiving sexually explicit text messages or photos, which makes them more likely to engage in other types of sexual activity as well.
The study, which was published in the journal Pediatrics found that a large number of adolescents between 12 and 14 ‘sext’, which is for the wiser ones like myself, sending texts of a sexual nature. Even more worrying is the conclusion of the report which says these children are more likely to kiss, have oral sex or sexual intercourse than their peers, who do not send such explicit content to each other. To make it worse, the number of teens and pre-teens, who send sexually explicit photos over social-media is becoming more frequent because of the lack of teacher and parental guidance of what teens are getting up to on their phones.
In a report by LSE Research titled ‘A qualitative study of children, young people and ‘sexting’: a report prepared for the NSPCC’, it is evident to see, through their examples, that sexting is occurring across a range of ethnic groups. From two school groups interviewed from two different schools, 23 out of 35 students were either black or from minority ethnic groups. An interview sample between an Asian boy and white girl was also included. This demonstrated the double standards generally boys have when it comes to explicit photos and demanding their girlfriends to send them pictures.
So how do we solve this problem? Well, for a start, it is difficult to monitor children’s activities on their mobile phones, particularly as a number of Apps can be accessed without age-restrictions now, but more monitoring is imperative if we want to refrain from allowing a generation of teenage mums and children born out of wedlock.
Apps such as ‘EyeGuardian’ have been produced by parents to alert them whenever explicit or abusive content is shared on their child’s Facebook account. For the less tech-savvy however, I would recommend the best and somewhat traditional method of communication, to ensure children and teens are nurtured with the correct values and respect for the opposite sex, as well as knowing the risks of their actions.
Lessons on the dangerous consequences of viewing porn and sexting should also be added to Sex Education classes in the first year of Secondary school. Although teens are much more digitally savvy than their parents, the fact remains that they are young and despite the exterior they give of, their lack of maturity could mean they are unaware of the consequences of their actions. This also links closely to the need for early educating young children on how to safely use social media sites such as Facebook. Viewing their profile as their dirty laundry draw may deter them from viewing it as an open canvas to offload their personal thoughts and activities.
Tanveer Mann 