Know more about sexting and its impact on youth

New Delhi: Sexting is a term that refers to the sending of nude, partially nude or sexually suggestive images or text with the use of mobile phones or computers. With teens having access to camera-ready cell phones and the ability to send and receive text messages, sexting has become an increasingly common problem among youth.Statistics based on a recent research on teen sexting show, approximately 20 percent of teens between the ages of 13 and 19 have sent nude images of themselves to others. Between 67 and 71 percent of the people who have sent sexually explicit images have sent them to a boyfriend or girlfriend. Roughly 38 to 39 percent of teens have received or seen nude texts of other teens. These images were either sent to them directly or shared by someone else. One out of ten sext senders have sent sext messages or images to someone they did not know directly or knew only online.Sending sexual pictures and text messages, or sexting, can have a long-term negative impact on the lives of teenagers. Thousand of images and videos end up on paedophile websites.Latest research shows that thousands of images are published on sites after being stolen from Facebook and other social networks, ‘self-generated' pictures of children are now a major source of images used on websites viewed by paedophiles.But what makes teens to opt for this way of communicating? Following could be the reasons:They may be curious:Sex creates curiosity, which leads to exploration and experimentation—especially with teens. This is not a new thing and it's completely normal. Teens may be curious as to what others look like naked and also easily aroused by nudity.They may be pressured:Peer pressure to participate in sex could be another reason teens are succumbing to sending racy pics of themselves. Think about it:If you're a guy and your friends all have sexual photos of girls on their phones, you may feel pressured to do the same; especially if your “guy” friends single you out if you don't.On the flip side, if you're a girl and other girls are boasting about sending pictures to their boyfriends you may feel you need to do the same; especially if you feel like “everyone else is doing it.”They may be in love:Remember your first love? To the love-stricken teen it's easy to cave to the pressure when you think “this is the one.” You believe with all of your heart this is the person you're destined to be with for eternity. Dramatic, yeah, but remember those teen years? To you this person is trustworthy and you would do anything, and I mean anything, for them. To the teen who's in need of this type of attention or in need of love and acceptance, he/she may give in and do something he'll/she'll later regret. They may not be thinking:There's a special part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex (aka the CEO of the brain) that is responsible for problem solving, impulse control, and weighing out options. Unfortunately for teens, this area of the brain is not fully developed. In fact, it doesn't fully mature until the early to mid-twenties. So, while we expect our teens to know better, the fact is there are some physiological reasons teens think they're invincible.Now after defining the reasons of Sexting, we just want to state that it's a responsibility of all parents to take measures in order to prevent their kids from this as Sexting can has large number of negative impacts. It can affect a person emotionally, socially and legally too.For the person that receives and spreads the images, there are a number of legal ramifications. Because the images are of minors, the spreading of nude or partially nude photos may violate child pornography laws. As a result a person can be found guilty of distributing child pornography and may even have to register as a sex offender.Emotionally sexting can take a toll on a person, especially if it backfires and gets into the wrong hands. Teens have a unique ability to feel like they're invincible. So, even though they may know that sexting is wrong, they don't think they're going to get caught.Another emotional catch is that sexting may lead to bullying for the teen whose photos have been solicited to others. This creates a harsh world for a teen to live. Oftentimes they don't reach out for help because of embarrassment and disappointment, fear of making it worse, or fear of getting into trouble. To many teens they may feel like they're caught in a trap with no way out.Open conversation can reduce the likelihood of teens participating in sexually oriented texting.