Sexting

One of the primary problems associated with sexting is that material can be very easily and widely circulated, over which the creator has no control.

McAfee, the anti-virus company, did its own study and found that 60% of sexts get leaked. Scary!

It is amazing that one picture, which takes less than a few seconds to take, holds the power to change a person's life. One picture, one moment in time, too many consequences...It's just not worth it...

Back when he was just a young 16-year-old at Douglas Byrd High School in North Carolina who played on the football team, his girlfriend sent him a sexy photo. He responded with a sexy photo of his own, because he was a teenaged boy who had a girl showing interest in him. Neither party disseminated the photos beyond the intended recipient, which is great news for all involved. However, police found the photos when they swept up this guy’s phone in the statutory rape investigation where he was not a suspect, and this seemingly innocent exchange of stills escalated into five felony charges.

Although ‘sexting’ can be seen by young people as harmless, creating or sharing indecent images of a child (someone below the age of 18) is illegal, even if the person doing it is themselves a child.

Detective Superintendent Susie Harper said: "If a child's mobile phone contract is in his or her parent's name, then the parent can be liable for what the phone is used for, and any indecent material that is saved or sent from it.

Enter Kik (and several other messengers that fly under the radar of parental controls because they are apps. And oh yeah, kids can delete the messages so they are no longer on their device although they can remain on the recipients).

She ( 12 year old daughter) didn’t know how to make him go away, and he kept telling her he would “upload her picture” and “ruin her life” and her “friends and family would disown her if they found out” if she didn’t comply with his demands. This all happened in two short days of her having a Kik account.

He (the detective) said pursuing this guy was a long shot. Kik normally doesn’t cooperate with US Law Enforcement (it’s a Canadian-based company), and he also said there are 10 cases just like this on his desk. He would keep the case active though.

"Sexting on Snapchat is so normalised that if you tell your mate that you were sending some cheeky nudes back and forth the other night on Snapchat, it's unlikely they're going to judge you," says Witton.

Snapchat's sexting culture has also created a pressure for young people to participate in sexting. Six out of 10 teens say they've been asked for sexual images or videos, according to an NSPCC survey. And, a 2015 study by the University of Indiana found that one fifth of university undergraduates had engaged in sexting when they didn't want to.

Sexting is "dangerous" for young people, particularly when it comes to the possibility of revenge porn, according to the NSPCC. "Snapchat deletes images once they have been viewed but users of the app can screenshot images to keep for later," a spokesperson said.

'Sexy photos from guys are the biggest texting turn off for women'.

A thousand times yes. Dudes of the world, most people don’t want to see a photo of your disembodied boner. Think about what you’re doing. You’re sending a closeup shot of a single organ. That’s really weird.

...asked Dr. Fisher if part of the issue could be that men just have no idea what women find sexy. She agreed.

The research on sexting and attachment style has indicated that those who send sexually explicit messages and attempt to initiate sex through texting also display either avoidant or anxious attachment styles with romantic partners.

Personal boundaries are the physical, emotional and mental limits we establish to protect ourselves from being manipulated, used, or violated by others. They allow us to separate who we are, and what we think and feel, from the thoughts and feelings of others.

It would not be possible to enjoy healthy relationships without the existence of personal boundaries, or without our willingness to communicate them directly and honestly with others.

Misinformation and true information often look awfully alike. The key to an informed life may not require gathering information as much as it does challenging the ideas you already have or have recently encountered. This may be an unpleasant task, and an unending one, but it is the best way to ensure that your brainy intellectual tapestry sports only true colors.