Sexting: Teens, Hormones, and Poor Judgment

Posted by Susan Carney Feb 20, 2009

There have been several recent news articles about teens getting in trouble for sending or forwarding lewd pictures (of themselves or others) on their cell phones. A cute new term has even been coined for this behavior: sexting. The punishments meted out for this behavior has ranged from a stern lecture to earning a permanent label as a sex offender.

This new trend has prompted me to revisit my usual warnings about the evils of mixing technology and adolescents. On one hand, you have a bunch of tech-savvy kids who are, in many cases, more adept at using this stuff than most adults. They also OWN more of this stuff than most adults do. It’s their world, its how they live and breathe and communicate. Add to the mix hormones, poor judgment, impulsivity, and a need to be popular and cool, and you have a real mess on your hands.

We’ve always had some degree of worry about kids’ behavior online. We’ve been, and continue to be, concerned about cyber bullying, sexual predators, and kids getting so entrenched in virtual games that their real world social connections began to erode. But we weren’t too worried about the phone (well, other than the texting while driving problem, which is a whole other problem.) But thanks to the advent of camera phones, kids can take pictures of every mortifying moment and then share them with as many people as they want. Unfortunately, because they are growing up in o tell-all, show-all culture, many of our kids aren’t as outraged or embarrassed by this as they should be. Another problem.

Keep reminding kids about privacy, boundaries, and personal space. Keep working with them on learning what’s appropriate (or not), and why. Help them take another person’s perspective, learn empathy, and teach them when to feel appropriately embarrassed. And most importantly, encourage them to keep their clothes on, especially when there is a camera nearby.