Politics | 01/15/2009 11:55 am

Sexting: The New Frontier of Flirting, Should You Do It?

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Watch what you're sending © Shutterstock

We’ve just learned about this latest trend in flirting: "sexting." It’s the act of sending nude or semi-nude photographs via cell-phone text messaging — and it’s apparently sweeping the nation. While the dirty deed might sound exciting for many young teens, it’s landing several middle school and high school students in hot water.

CBS News reports:

While it may be shocking, the practice of "sexting" — sending nude pictures via text message — is not unusual, especially for high schoolers around the country. This week, three teenage girls who allegedly sent nude or semi-nude cell-phone pictures of themselves, and three male classmates in a western Pennsylvania high school who received them, are charged with child pornography. In October a Texas eighth-grader spent the night in a juvenile detention center after his football coach found a nude picture on his cell phone that a fellow student sent him. Roughly 20 percent of teens admit to participating in "sexting," according to a nationwide survey (pdf) by the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "This is a serious felony. They could be facing many years in prison," CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom said of the six teens in Pennsylvania.

Also, word to the older and wiser: While "sexting" may be perfectly OK between two legal-aged lovebirds, you should still be really careful … You wouldn’t want to misplace your cell phone.

Click here to read the full story.

Read more about: Cell Phones, crime, Dating, High School, Lifestyle, News, Relationships, Society, Technology

105 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Our schools have been gutted of any sense of morals & responsibility. God has been removed from the schools & we wonder why kids do what they do. We teach gay & lesbian & other aternative life styles are OK. They pass out condoms & birth contols pills in some \schools to students as young as 10-11 years old. We wonder why kids shoot other kids. Students have no respect of teachers & authority. I could go on with many more things going on that our schools have become. My wife & I have more than 45 yerars of teaching in the public schools starting from the late 1960’s. It”s no wonder that kids think its perfectly ok to send nude photos of them selves & think it ok, If we do not start changing the direction of this country, back to conservative moral principles, this nation will be doomed.

By Donald Duck on 01/15/2009 5:18 pm

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I agree. To prevent further declination, each kid before puberty should donate sperm/eggs to the bank and then to be sterilized and sexually mutilated. In that way, country will be clean, you asexual freaks happy and your fake idea of god that dislikes sex cherished.

By dandellion Kimban on 01/15/2009 6:59 pm

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This comment has been deleted as it violated the Ten Commandments of Posting on our website.

By Donald Duck on 01/15/2009 7:11 pm

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No, I am not lesbian atheist. But if this was supposed to be personal attack, you should try it again. At leasxt, you cannot give any argument to the discussion, so that’s only that you’re left with.

By dandellion Kimban on 01/15/2009 7:21 pm

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You simply disagree with the change in morality. Gay men and women are voting citizens too and deserve the same respect that any other citizen has. As for teaching god, there is no concensus about the existance and nature of god even if you query people of the same religion. Thus, it is an inappropriate topic for school. What we’re seeing now has little to do with morals and everything to do with technology. We can not return to the morals of the past because those lifestyles are no longer possible. When I was in middle school, we didn’t send nude pictures of ourselves on cell phones. We didn’t have cell phones…. Or facebook….. Many didn’t even have the internet. Instead of lamenting the changes, our society needs to adapt to them so that we can create a moral framework that works. Also, there is absolutely nothing wrong with homosexuality. You may disagree, but gay and bisexual citizens should have as many rights as any other citizen.

By R.J.B. Reed on 01/15/2009 11:43 pm

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Check my post above about what it was like in schools when my kids were there in the 60s/70s when you were a teacher. It was pretty bad then and there weren’t any computers either…just the ‘Love Generation” where sex and drugs were freely given.

By Lizzie R. on 01/16/2009 1:29 pm

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@Donald Duck Exactly which god are you talking about? The Christian god? Newsflash: not everyone is a Christian. And beside that, there are many different Christian churches, starting from the basic division into Catholic and Orthodox. Which one would you like the children to be familiar with? Only one of them? That wouldn’t be fair. All of them? Then what about all the other religions? What about the Muslims? Jews? Hindus? Buddhists? Pagans? Wickans? Evevryone else? They are all religions in their own right, and most of them do not believe in the same god you do. And then, there’s the atheists and agnostics! What about them? Should they be excluded from schools because they don’t believe in god? Morals and religion do not necessarily go hand in hand. In fact, more blood has been shed on account of religion than for any other reason. Morale is something you instill in your children yourself. YOU are responsible for your children and their upbringing, not the schools, the Government, the church, or anyone else. If YOU yourself don’t teach them to make a difference between right and wrong, no one else will.

By miss daisy on 01/15/2009 7:18 pm

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miss daisy, what DD is trying to say is that people in this world at the very least are NOT teaching their children values and morals. They are failing miserably in rearing their children and teachers, other children that plkay by the rules and society as a whole is suffering immeasurably as a result of it. Parents are more interested in being friends and pals to their children and in the end of the day, they really don’t want to be bothered with them. This is evident in their terrible parenting practices. They are growing up with out guidance nor being taught the value of self respect and they cannot pass that on to others, as they do not exhibit what they do not know or have. And as for God, he is the author of all things good not bad and anyone who understood what the Bible say’s, would realize that no matter what your belief is, the Bibles dictates are in it’s writtings,and a blueprint for what is the right or wrong way to behave and most of the religions you posted for the most part, believe in principals that teach their followers a way to behave that either brings you peace or suffering. I agree that it is the parents sole responsibility to rear their children up with values and morals but, this society has proven that that is not what is taking place and that evidence is throughout every aspect of life as we see it. These same kids are the same ones that are bringing weapons to schools, killing other innocent students and teachers, disrupting the classroom enviroment with backtalk to teachers, drugs onto the campus, ect. As the saying goes…one is truly a product of their enviroment. And that too is a learned behavior.

By HA BIBI on 01/15/2009 8:48 pm

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That would be teachers and other children, that play by the rules and society as a whole is suffering…….

By HA BIBI on 01/15/2009 8:52 pm

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Right on!!!!! Some of us in this country believe in the values that this nation was founded on.

By Donald Duck on 01/16/2009 12:44 am

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No, DD is not trying to say that parents are not teaching their children about morale. He is trying (rather badly) to propagate his ugly and fake interpretation of Christianity for political benefit of his right-wing ideology. if he wanted to say anything about parents, he would say it without spamming with all the b/s about “putting God back to the country”. Problem of parents doing lousy job is evident, and, so far, nobody here disagreed that. But DD’s comments are not about the problem, they are exploiting the problem for propaganda. And as for God…. Christianity is monistic religion, so it makes no sense at all to say that God is creator of good but not bad things. That flaw in logic was introduced centuries ago for the same reasons DD is posting here: for propaganda. And that flaw in logic stays because people are lazy to think and prefer to have “explanation in a box” rather than thinking and taking responsibility for their lives. And it really doesn’t take much to check the Genesis and see that there is no single verse that says that there is something, anything that is not created by the God. So, even if you do take Bible as any source of knowledge, your explanation doesn’t make sense. And then, why would we take Bible as a definitive source of anything?

By dandellion Kimban on 01/16/2009 6:57 am

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I don’t agree with you. Nothing else need be said.

By HA BIBI on 01/16/2009 10:49 am

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I find it interesting how statistics are used. The article and the video stated that 20% of kids across the country are doing this. Tonight on the news the NTSB said only 20% of airline crashes in this country had fatalities, so flying is still the safest way to travel. In the first case, the one on this thread, 20% represents an awful trend. In the second case, 20% is something for which we should be thankful.

By kermie b on 01/15/2009 7:38 pm