The dangers of texting

Ok I am harping on about bullying again but that is because our lives seem to have been impacted by it such a lot at the moment.

The emotional form "I am not going to that because you won't do what I want you to do"
The intimidating and humiliating type. I have asked you to do something that you feel is unethical but tough I will force you to do it either by scaring you or embarrassing you.
Cyber bullying, in this case sexting. Where a girl has forwarded on inappropriate photos of herself to her boyfriend who has then forwarded them onto his mates and then they have done the same.

Today my focus is on the sexting, some girls at child 4's school have been involved in this and this encouraged me to investigate the prevelance of sexting and what we as adults, parents and teachers can do to support our children both boys and girls in this new technological world. Sexting is a new phenomena and I suspect that if you are over the age of 20 it's will be something that you have probably only heard of via the media.

Firstly, exactly what is sexting. The NSPCC explaination is "Sexting' is the exchange of self-generated sexually explicit images, through mobile picture messages or webcams over the internet.

Young people may also call it:

• Cybersex
• Sending a nudie, picture or selfie.

'Sexting' is often seen as flirting by children and young people who feel that it is part of normal life.

One of the most common forms is girls sending pictures of themselves onto their boyfriends, not necessarily considering the possible consequences once they have pressed the sent button. Once that has happened they no longer have any control over those images and sadly they have to live with those consequences. We, I think are now very aware that once something is on the internet it cannot be completely removed and that can impact someone's future. I wonder though are those that have passed on pictures aware that the law views those pictures as indecent and as the girls who send them are frequently under 18 it could also be a sex crime which if the police were informed can lead to arrest and being charged with child pornography and end up on the sex offenders register for life. The effect on a young persons future could be devastating and all because they don't have an understanding of what it is that they are doing. 

We must educate our children, giving them all the facts so that they can make decisions involving social media and texting. We must ensure that they no that they can say no and just as importantly telling an adult  about anything that makes them feel uncomfortable is not telling tales......

http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/14_plus/need-advice/selfies-and-sexting/ http://www.nspcc.org.uk/help-and-advice/for-parents/talking-about-sex/sexting/sexting_wda96795.html