20% Of Teens Send Sexually Explicit Photos Of Themselves?
from the really? dept
Sure, we've seen all sorts of moral panic-type reports about kids not thinking so much about the consequences of what content they reveal about themselves online, but it still strikes me as a bit unlikely that one in five teens reports sending sexually explicit photos of themselves to others using either mobile phones or online tools. Perhaps it depends on the definition of "sexually explicit."This brings up another issue that was raised recently at the privacy discussion I attended recently. After someone pointed out that the younger generation is just used to being more open, a question was raised: is this a generational issue or a maturational issue? In other words, is the younger generation really just used to being more open about things, or is it that they haven't matured enough to recognize the potential impact of what they're doing -- and, as they age, will be more reasonable. I'm not sure anyone really knows the answer to that just yet.
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Re:
He knew what he was doing and is going to college next year. Yes it's illegal but its no different (to me at least) then seeing the person naked in person.
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The only real difference is that you can be arrested, convicted, and labeled a sex offender for life for taking/exchanging the pictures, whereas if you saw them naked in person nothing would happen to you.
It kinda makes me think that our laws are pretty ill-suited to reality.
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You so sure about that?
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I'm familiar with the concept of someone looking slutty, but it's usually related to how someone is dressed. How exactly does a girl have a "slutty look on her face"? The only thing that comes to mind is if she has someone's cock in her mouth...
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i'm sure with the proliferation of polaroid cameras, the exact same thing happened. i'm sure with the first easily available digital cameras this began to show up.
kids do stupid things. hell, adults do stupid things. ever heard of kwame kilpatrick? i bet the teens sending 'explicit' pictures of themselves were actually smarter than our defunct mayor.
this is a technological issue. and before you go banning digital communications, realize-it. will. happen. again. and again. with each iteration of new ways to take and send pictures.
the shock value will wear off in between, and the next time it happens, someone will decry the decaying morals of our youths and how theyre destroying themselves.
and i bet those same people will have sent some pretty risque stuff themselves.
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That doesn't make sense, you say maturity has nothing to do with it, and then that teens in every generation do similar things. Teens are by definition not mature, and thus maturity has everything to do with it.
But I think Mike is very right in that we will really know for sure when they are grown whether there openness is personality trait or behavior.
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Exactly. IMHO, there is just one difference between this generation and my generation before it - there's a bigger potential audience for the dumb stuff this generation does. If a teenager 20 years ago took a "naughty" Polaroid, it might have gotten shared with one or two people. A digital photo can be shared with millions if they're not careful.
Just as a kid will often use a photocopier to take a photo of their rear end if they get the chance, today's teenagers will take pictures of themselves with their new phone camera. Their exploration of sexuality is more public than it used to be, but that's all that's really changed.
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Nothing's Changed
How many times have you heard a story about a child finding dirty pictures somewhere in the house? You hear about it all the time.
As I said, nothing has changed. These teens WILL mature with time, maybe they will live to regret it, but maybe not.
Now people are much more aware of it because of the internet, people share, send and swap pictures of their girlfriends and stuff all the time, and now you can also edit and save the pictures however you want.
-CMG
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on the dot
I don't think there's any "kinda" about it Kevin, I think you hit the point dead on.
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hormones
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Risk... to everyone else.
It requires vigilance, frequent cache/cookie clearing and general paranoia given our draconian laws. These laws were implemented with good intentions, yet I worry that many people could be snared through no intentional acts of underage picture viewing.
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low number
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appropriate photos/texting
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A different perspective on surveys
So, I'm just saying, take these surveys with a grain of salt. Just because it's a survey does not mean it's accurate.
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(lack of) Maturity may shape this Generation
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