Sexting for Kids? What does that even mean?

Parallel to our class lecture and discussion on Monday, children mixing with technological gadgets seems extremely risky.

According to the Pew Internet Project, kids who purchase their own cell phones are 4x as likely to sext (sex + text? at least that's what I assumed it to be). But TechCrunch's article defines "sexting" as any inappropriate images or texts sent to other kids. And for all the parents out there, some of the sexts prominently apply to the 3,000 reports that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children examine weekly.

The report polled 2,553 middle-aged participants ranging from 18-29 years old and 800 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 years old. 75% of these teens have cell phones and at least 15% of them have received at least one sexual image through their phones of someone they previously knew. And 4% of the teenagers have sent images similar to those.

Three out of every four teenagers in wealthier families own a cellphone, while only 59% of the teens in families with household income less than $30,000 have a phone. Here are even more surprising statistics:


- 55% of teenagers (18-29 years old) access the internet from a phone
- 75% of teenagers have a phone
- 93% of adults have a phone
- In 2004, 18% of 12-year-olds had a phone, while in 2009, 58% had a phone; and with kids becoming more technologically savvy and prices constantly on the decline, the number is bound to rise.

This article flooded back some nostalgic moments. I remember my first cell phone when I was thirteen years old. Before then, I never really found the need for a phone since no one else had one. Now it makes sense that kids would want and/or "need" a phone since "everyone has it". I could just hear that justifiable complaint to thousands of parents around the country.

I remember needing to get picked up from Foothills Middle School and calling my dad from a payphone to come pick me up if prior arrangements weren't established.

Either our society is becoming lazier, more dependent on technology, or more spoiled. Something tells me that the answer is: a little bit of each. What an unfortunate image to establish...