66% Of U.S. Students Have Sexted Via Their Phone

Sites include Bestcollegesonline.com . Published on June 17th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

The 90s brought us the internet and a plethora of new technologies and whilst the majority of what we’ve inherited from the period has been good, there has been some downsides.

Take “sexting” (sending text messages to someone with sexually explicit content), the practice is largely a product of the democratization of mobile technology. Where text messages used to be just snippets of text, users are now able to send voice, images and everything in between via a text message. The result has been an abuse by students in the US who according to the latest study from Bestcollegesonline.com into the phenomenon, is prevalent among 66% of US students.

Legislators have a torrid time trying to police the practice and in some states where the sexting laws have been enacted, prosecution has been next to impossible. The biggest reason of course is that many of the people accused of sexting are minors. Adults are perfectly in their rights to send lewd images and messages to each other with consent.

The problem has been compounded by the ubiquity of mobile phones. Even children as young as 8 years old now walk around with mobile phones, and unless parents to a good job of monitoring their children most end up sexting. In many respects adults are big part of the problem, particularly when it comes to sex on television and in print. Children are exposed to that sort of stuff much earlier than say 30 years ago.

Most students use the internet for work and socializing but most know that porn is just one mouse click away. The problem of sexting is part and parcel of the technology revolution and until all concerned are able to take stock of the speed of this revolution, the problems that come with it won’t go away.

What do you think, should sexting be banned outright? Share your thoughts below.