BodiMojo Blog

There was some buzz in the past week in response to a survey report about teens using cell phones to send sexually explicit content – specifically, nude or partially nude photos of themselves. The report, sponsored by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Cosmo Girl essentially brings to light how common characteristics in adolescent development – impulsivity, sexual exploration, peer pressure, and romance – collide with the convenience of technology.

The report breaks down the 1200-plus respondents in two groups:  Teens (ages 13-19) and Young Adults (ages 20-26).  We’ll stick with the teens for now but the numbers go up significantly for the 20-somethings. 

• One in five teenagers (20 percent) say they have sent/posted nude or semi-nude pictures or videos.

• Almost 40 percent of teens report sending or posting sexually suggestive messages.

• Peer pressure is a major factor with 47 percent of teens saying “pressure from guys” is a reason that girls send or post such content; and 24 percent say “pressure from friends” is a reason guys do so. 

Who are the intended recipients of these photos or messages? The majority of teens (71 percent girls, 67 percent boys) say a boyfriend or girlfriend. 

Another fraction say they sent messages with a sexually suggestive content to someone they wanted to date or hook up with (21 percent girls, 39 percent boys). 

Fifteen percent of teens have posted a nude/semi-nude image to someone they only knew online. Risky business.

Guess how often photos get passed on? Forty percent of teens say that a sexually suggestive message intended for someone else was shared with them and 20 percent say they have passed on message intended for their eyes only – probably an under-reporting on that score.

I tend to visualize these statistics in real life.  For instance, in a few years when my daughter reaches 14 or so and is hanging out with her girlfriends at a slumber party, I imagine at least two girls out of ten will take a topless snapshot.  I’ll view it as a hormonal spike of flirtatiousness – or a truth or dare scheme.  I can just hear the girls squealing with both fear and glee – and hope it’s my daughter shouting out the cautionary “Don’t do it. You’ll be in cyberspace forever!”  But to no avail.

Because kids do the stupidest things.  And technology makes it that much easier to do what budding young adults have always done.  The difference is that such flirtations used to be created in sketchbooks, poems, and love letters.  Easier to burn when necessary.

Consider the scenes imprinted in teens minds today:  Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack Dawson sketching Rose in the flesh in the Titanic movie.  Fast forward 100 years and instant cameras replace the charcoal pencils. 

The reaction to the reports as seen in blogs and related commentary are good additional reading. Comments range from the gut reactionary “How can kids be so dumb?”  to “Get over your puritanical American views of sexuality.”

But the real message to be taken from the report is that both teens and their parents/teachers need to really “get” the consequences of such communications in today’s world.  And that’s hard on two counts: 

(1) Kids might get it intellectually but cognitively they live in the moment (read The Primal Teen to understand how their brains are morphing) not to mention living in a culture that reinforces sexual exhibitionism.

(2) Many parents and teachers still don’t understand enough about cyberspace, the social Web or technology to even know how to talk about the ramifications of posting or sending of questionable content. 

The report offers some obvious tips for both teens and parents. If only it could be stapled to their foreheads.

For Teens: 5 Things to Think About Before Pressing Send

For Parents: 5 Tips to Help Parents Talk to Their Kids About Sex and Technology

- Contributed by Tara Cousineau, A Kid at Heart