The world has become silent. People are not talking anymore, they’re texting. It’s true. Just take a moment from your own phone and look around at the mall, restaurants, airports or anywhere else you might be.
Everyone is clicking away on their mobile devices. Sometimes a person might even be texting someone right next to her.
For teens, texting has become the dominant way they communicate with each other. It is estimated that teens send out between 80 to 100 texts a day. Now, that is a lot of texts!
Texting alone might not be a problem if you’re sure your teen still has a healthy connection to the world around her, but what might concern parents and grandparents is that some of these texts that are being sent are sexually explicit.
Sexting. That's when you text a nude photo of yourself or text sexually explicit language to another person. Studies have shown that teen girls are more likely to send explicit photos to guys than guys are to girls.
There are a slew of reasons to do this that might not make sense to parents–a romantic gesture to their boyfriend, fear of losing him, peer pressure and insecurity.
The worst part of this is teen girls aren’t always thinking about the consequences before they click send. They don't realize that their pictures are out there for life, and even if they do realize it, they aren’t thinking about the damage that the pictures can cause in the future.
So talk to your daughter or granddaughter about the dangers of texting sexually explicit photos. Here are 7 tips:
- Remind her that sending private, explicit photos and text messages could tarnish her reputation at cyberspeed.
- Discuss with your teen daughter that once an image is sent, it can never be retrieved. She will lose control of it.
- Most teens don’t realize that sharing explicit photos electronically is a federal offense. In some states, they could face felony charges for distributing child pornography if they are minors or might even have to register as a sex offender.
- Talk about the pressures that come along with sexting. Is it a dare? Is it pressure from a friend or boyfriend? Let her know that the social humiliation will be much worse than any temporary result of not sexting.
- Ask her how she’d feel if her friends, employers, teachers, potential college administrators, or entire school saw her explicit photo. Many employers and college administrators look at photos of their potential employees or students posted on their social network sites. This gives them the opportunity to view behaviors and social habits.
- Set boundaries regarding cell phone or tablet usage. Don’t allow cell phones or computers in the bedroom at bedtime. This decreases the chances of midnight texting.
- Let her know you'll be occasionally monitoring her activity on her phone and online. Just knowing that there is a possibility of you monitoring her activity will make her think twice about and what she sends to others.
Let’s protect our teen girls from exposing their outer beauty for worldly pleasures. They are worth the wait, and they are God’s treasures that need to be guarded.
