SEXTING

In this day in age people are comfortable with documenting their entire life online. Posting photos, updating their status/every move and being just a click away from friends on social media. But this whole social media craze can sometimes cause individuals to make impulsive decisions including teens. A great example of this is sexting. Sexting occurs when people send sexually revealing pictures of themselves or sexually explicit messages via text message. This new craze happens for all sorts of reasons whether it's to show interest in someone, entice someone or to prove your commitment to that individual. Either way the real problem comes when this content is shared broadly and the recipient in possession of these now compromising images or messages now decides to post it on social media or forward to others via email or text. Almost every time, the teen whose intimate photo is now viewed by the masses ends up feeling embarrassed, humiliated and ashamed. As our teens begin to reach dating age, sexting should now be at the forefront of our every conversation. Most teens will tell you that sexting is bad but once they enter into what they call a relationship- trust begins to develop and they feel that their partner has their backs but once that relationship ends that's when the photos are shared. Effective communication with teens is key to ensuring that they understand the emotional impact as well as the legal consequences that they may face as well. If these sexually based pictures end up in the wrong hands, then what started out as innocent fun suddenly takes a wrong turn.