Are my kids at risk? i'm not waiting to find out!!
I was just reading on our local site about a new teen phenomena thats happening in Tasmania, Australia where young kids are SEXTING each other. This involves girls as young as 8 - 12 taking explicit photos of themselves with their phones and sending them to boys in the hope of gaining interest?
These girls are unaware of the implications of what they are doing and most times are pressured into it, this is very disturbing to me as I have two tweenagers but thus far have managed to keep them free from online nasties and internet predators, its advised that we - the parents check there phones for anything suspect, It may seem overboard that i don't let my children stay overnight anywhere, not even at a friends house, and so they aren't really exposed to the big bad world and now i guess ill be taking there phones away and replacing them with Mp3 players or something. Regardless its very disheartening to see the way things are going in the world ... sad really sad !!
Last edited by CHANDLERS WISH; 05-12-2009 at 08:37 PM. Reason: advertising sites not allowed
I wouldn't worry, the odds of kids being snatched by a stranger predator are much much less than a lot of other things (car accidents, bike accidents), and much less likely than them being molested by someone they know.
Sexting is new, but using photo-copy machines to take photos of you nude bottom isn't. You can explain to them that if they do this, their pictures are likely to wind up on the internet, but I wouldn't worry too much. There are far worse risks out there for kids.
Kids today are being bombarded, especially young girls, with:
celebrities that make sex video tapes...
with my space pages where all the girls try to one up each other to get attention from boys...
with camera phones ... I mean think about it.. before if a guy wanted a dirty picture of you, it would take significant effort to accomplish this... you'd have to find a camera, get the pics developed (possible embarassement at the walmart photocounter...) it gave you too much time to realize its a bad Idea. Nowadays they can lift a top click a pick and send it to the requesting guy in 5 seconds... before ever thinking about the possible repercussions.
Somewhere along the line between the pamela anderson tape and the paris hilton one, between jenna jamesons big crossover into mainstream and almost every rap song on the radio being an ode to strippers/strip clubs, between teen pop stars posing seductively on rolling stone covers and when they turn 18 and bare all in playboy: being a porn star became cool to young girls. Its sad, sad turn of events.
What can be done? Drilling home to young girls that they don't want to make a decision right now that can impact their future. That with the age of the internet, nothing is private and one day they may meet a great man they want to marry who has big career ambitions , or they themselves might decide they want to be a politician or in the public eye, a teacher anything at all.. and those pictures can come back to haunt them and probably will.. thats about the only thing they might understand.
Scars remind us of where we've been...they don't have to dictate where we're going.
Taking away their phones and such is a bit much, don't condem them when they haven't done anything wrong. By all means talk to them about the poor choices some people are making but don't kneejerk assume that your kids will do this. THey need to know that you trust them and that so long as they don't do anything to lose that trust you will continue to trust them.
Posting Permissions
Connect with Facebook
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks