Teenagers are using the internet and mobile phones to share naked pictures and videos of themselves with each other. This sharing of naked pictures, videos and indecent text messages is called Sexting and is mainly done using mobile phones. Sexting among minors is a crime and is punishable by law in the United States, Canada and other parts of the world.
Teenagers caught with naked pictures or videos of minors on their cellphones, computers or any electronic devices, can be charged for possessing, distributing and promoting of these pictures or videos.
A teenager who sends a naked picture or video of his/her self to other teenagers can be charged and serve jail time. Also, if you receive a naked picture or video of a teenager without requesting it and send that same picture or video to other persons, you can be charged for the distribution of the same. If you receive these photos or videos, you are urged to delete them and report it to your local law enforcer.
What a lot of teenagers do not know, is that persons can hack their mobile phones, steal the naked pictures or videos on these devices and put them on the internet for everyone to see. The same thing may happen if your phone is stolen or lost. These same persons may even use the same pictures or video to blackmail these teenagers. They may use it to demand sex, money or ask the teenager to commit a crime in exchange for the naked pictures or videos, in order not be ridiculed or face embarrassment, a lot of these teenagers may comply with the blackmailer.
There have been cases of ex-lovers posting naked pictures and videos of their exes on the internet, to embarrass and ridicule them for payback after a break-up.
Parents, I strongly urge you to educate your teenagers about Sexting and the dangers of it. Tell your teenagers not to make or distribute naked pictures and videos of themselves or others. Warn them about the legal actions that can be taken against them or you the parents, and the psychological trauma this may cause.
If a naked picture or video of your child is made public, whether that child had taken the photo or made the video for fun or for their boy/girlfriends eyes only, this can have a disastrous effect on the child’s life. Because of the fear of embarrassment and ridicule, the child may suffer from some forms of depression, which may take months or years to recover from or the child may commit suicide.
For more information about Sexting, please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexting . For information about the laws of Sexting in each state in the United States, please go to mobilemediaguard.com/state_main.html .