Sexting Prevention, Education and Intervention
Immediate Discipline and Education Needs for Youth Exchanging Photos
Apr 5, 2009
Sexting, sending sexually explicit photos between cell phones, seems like it would belong to the realm of pornography consumers and other shady elements. However, up to 20% of young teens aged 13 to 15 have engaged in this behavior according to the January 3, 2009 report on WCAX-TV, "Is Your Child Sexting?" by Keagan Harsha. For parents, this means either your teen or someone he or she knows has been involved in the exchange of explicit self photos via their cell phones.
Parents need to be aware of this social phenomenon and need to be prepared to immediately intervene with both education and discipline should a teen be caught engaging in the behavior. A parent should be concerned with prevention, education and effective discipline should the need arise.
Prevention is the First Part of Parental Duties
Prevention begins with awareness. You should be very clear how your teen's mobile phone works and its capabilities. You should be able to regularly review your teen's phone's images and text exchanges. This should be set out as a condition of the teen receiving the phone from the very start.
Of course, you will want to respect your teen's privacy. It's a hard balance to strike. However, you can quell your teen's anger by performing the inspection with him or her, one-on-one. Let your teen operate the phone but be aware of what he or she is doing and make certain all photos have been shown to you. Make certain to review stored images. Text only messages should be treated as private and not made part of the review. This achieves a balance between parenting and snooping.
Educating Your Teen about Sexting
Parents should also provide education to their teens about sexting. Education generally does not increase the incidents of a behavior. It generally lowers the incident of behavior by removing the mystery of the subject and helping your teen understand you, as a parent, are on top of the issues facing your teen every day.
Education about sexting should include the following points:
- Sexting is highly illegal. If teens are caught with explicit images of people under 18-years-of-age, the local law enforcement will charge them with possession of child pornography.
- Sexting creates images which will be potentially available on the Internet and other digital dissemination methods. A one time joke could be a life time embarrassment.
- Sexting is degrading and cruel. Teens who have their images shared experience strong anxiety and depression. It has even been noted in increased suicide incidents.
Parent Intervention Must be Immediate
Should you find images of an explicit nature on your teenager's phone, you must immediately intervene in a serious manner. You must consider carefully whether the images need to be turned over to law enforcement officials or if the images are soft enough in nature to warrant only home discipline.
First, you should immediately confiscate the teenager's phone and suspend the teen's rights to use the cell phone. This may be difficult if you've come to rely on the phone to keep track of your teenager. Fortunately, small GPS devices will allow you to keep up with your teen without the cell phone.
You need to explain to your teenager the very serious nature of the event. Ascertain whether the images have been forwarded or stored on your teen's computer or other digital storage device. Explain how law enforcement may have to be contacted if he or she is not forthcoming with you.
In following up with discipline, you may want to have your teen do the following:
- Write a paper about the dangers and consequences of sexting.
- Meet with a local law enforcement officer to talk about the dangers of sexting.
- Write an apology to any recipient of the image for placing him or her in danger of arrest and prosecution.
When you are ready to let your teen use a cell phone again, replace the phone with one without a camera. Place the phone use on probation status and review text messages carefully at random times with your teenager.
Sexting represents a growing threat to teenagers. It is not only harmful, it can lead to stiff legal problems, emotional problems and a lifetime of embarrassment. Parents should approach sexting with goals of prevention, education and, if necessary, intervention and punishment.
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