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Is Your Child Sexting?
Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Tweens, Research Reveals: Teens
The latest topic of concern: Sexting.
Credit: D Sharon Pruitt, Flickr
Or maybe you got it simply because you were tired of hearing her begging pleas. Whatever the reason, 27 percent of preteens (ages 9 to 12) and 75 percent of teens (ages 13 to 17) now have their own cell phones, says a report released last month by the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. (Download the report in PDF form here.)
And while many parents (41 percent, to be exact) are concerned with the amount of time their children spend texting, there's another topic of concern: Sexting. A mash-up of sex and texting, sexting is when sexually explicit material is shared through a text message or cell phone photo.
Among children with cell phones, 87 percent reported using the devices to send and receive text messages. (There's no stat about how many admit to sending sexts.)
In attempts to control the types of messages sent and received, 55 percent of parents limit the time children can use their phones. In a more extreme option, parents can block the image transmission option on phones. We didn't even know you could do that, but 45 percent of preteen parents and 29 percent of teen parents already use such a service.
Interested? Call your cell phone carrier; most will block image content for a small monthly fee (usually $5 to $10).
Regardless of what methods of protection you use, the poll's author suggests establishing ground rules and expectations before handing over a cell phone to your child.
Related: Is It Bad To Cyber-Spy on Your Teen?, Teen "Sexting" Isn't All That Dangerous
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
1-04-2010 @ 9:06PM
x said...why does this article only say her and never he? teen boys are also sexting but that's never addressed.
Reply
10-07-2011 @ 9:41AM
Holly M said...This is some advice that I came across when I was worried about my child sexting:
Don’t wait for an incident to happen to your child or your child’s friend before you talk about the consequences of sexting. Sure, talking about sex or dating with teens can be uncomfortable, but it’s better to have the talk before something happens.
Remind your kids that once an image is sent, it can never be retrieved -- and they will lose control of it. Ask teens how they would feel if their teachers, parents, or the entire school saw the picture, because that happens all the time.
Talk about pressures to send revealing photos. Let teens know that you understand how they can be pushed or dared into sending something. Tell them that no matter how big the social pressure is, the potential social humiliation can be hundreds of times worse.
Teach your children that the buck stops with them. If someone sends them a photo, they should delete it immediately. It’s better to be part of the solution than the problem. Besides, if they do send it on, they're distributing pornography -- and that’s against the law.
If you are concerned about your child sexting, I used an app called Mobileminder to keep an eye on what my son was doing on his cell phone. With Mobileminder I was able to check his text messages, pictures, call logs, etc. from my computer. If you are concerned about your own child I would highly recommend using Mobileminder. The website is www.mobileminder.com
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