Teen Sexting: What Should Parents Be Aware Of?
Teen sexting is on the rise. For most teens, it seems fun and harmless, but the dangers of sexting are also unpredictable. So, what should parents know and do for teen sexting?
The Dangers of Sexting
Apps Parents Must Know
Related Sexting Topics
Why Do Teens Sext?
- Sexual curiosity
- To express love
- Attention/affirmation
- Coercion/blackmail
- Social and peer pressure
- Create and share recklessly
What is sexting? Sexting is sending or getting sexually explicit or suggestive images, messages, or videos via any digital device.
According to JAMA Pediatrics, at least 1 in 4 teens are receiving sexts and 1 in 7 are sending sexts. Over 1 in 10 teens are forwarding sexts without consent.
The Dangers of Teen Sexting
Child PornographSexting involves nude photos of minors who constitutes child pornography, exchanging of which will often be charged with a crime even if it's consensual.
Sexual BullyingThe image or content shared during sexting might be leaked and used by others to bully, gossip about, tease, insult, cyberbully, and intimidate your teens.
SextortionThe recipient of the images may threaten to shame the sender, and teens are often too embarrassed to ask for help and will be sexually extorted for a long time.
Teens' ReputationSexting could ruin a teen's reputation if the receiver is a jerk who brags about and shows the messages to other people, or releases them to the public after breaking up.
Sexting can have negative mental consequences on teens, especially when they are under pressure to share explicit photos. Research shows that sexting coercion can lead to depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.
Consensual, private sexting between adults generally is legal. But sexting a minor will be a different story. So some states' laws specifically address sexting.
Apps Parents Must KnowSocial media apps are popular for teens to meet new friends but also expose teens to sexual predators, disturbing content, and cyberbullying. Even though these platforms have privacy protection mechanisms, some predators can still bypass them. Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Kik are risky social media apps parents should know.
On Snapchat, shared photos can disappear in a few seconds, leaving no record. However, predators can still save pictures or videos by taking screenshots for malicious purposes.
With WhatsApp's privacy mode of one-on-one chatting and other features, predators can easily reach out to teens just by adding phone numbers to the contact list on the phone.
Kik is a place where anonymous people can contact kids without age verification. Its special feature is often connected with cyberbullying, harassment, or sexting.
Anonymous chat apps can expose teens to predators easily and put them in danger. Here are six dangerous chat apps that parents need to be vigilant about and let their kids stay away from.
A screenshot-proof messaging app that private chats can only be read one line at a time.
A Snapchat-style app that lets users send encrypted messages for private communication.
An encrypted and private chat app that sends content in one-to-one chat or groups.
A cloud-based messaging app in which chats are encrypted and can self-destruct.
An anonymous social media app that allows people to post and share messages anonymously.
An anonymous chat room app that allows users to talk with strangers without creating accounts.
A screenshot-proof messaging app that private chats can only be read one line at a time.
A Snapchat-style app that lets users send encrypted messages for private communication.
An encrypted and private chat app that sends content in one-to-one chat or groups.
A cloud-based messaging app in which chats are encrypted and can self-destruct.
An anonymous social media app that allows people to post and share messages anonymously.
An anonymous chat room app that allows users to talk with strangers without creating accounts.
How to Deal with Teen Sexting?
Many teens tend to keep sexting secret. That is why vault apps come in. The Vault app, known as a ghost app, is designed to hide or store photos, videos, calls, or texts. The type of apps mostly looks like a calculator but requires a password. Private Photo Vault, KeepSafe, Secret Calculator, Secret Photo Album, and Best Secret Folder are dangerous vault apps parents should notice.
Decoding teenage texting lingo can be important for sexting prevention. Text slang seems mostly harmless among youth. But some secret texting language can also let them sexting secretly and keep parents in the dark. Here are 6 dangerous sexting slangs parents should know: GNOC - Get Naked On Cam, GYPO - Get Your Pants Off, P911 - Parent Alert, CD9 - Parents Around, TDTM - Talk Dirty To Me, IPN - I'm Posting Naked.
As every message can be easily hidden or deleted, parents are unable to keep an eye or spend all day on kids' online chatting. But FamiSafe's Explicit Content Detection on Android can relieve parents' stress. It monitors children's sent and received texts on main social media apps like Kik, Instagram, or WhatsApp. While teens sext, the app will warn parents instantly, even when texts are erased.
Besides, it provides risky keywords lists. They contain sexual talks, suicidal thoughts, or cyberbullying. Parents can build word lists. What's more, it values kids' privacy, so parents would only get alerts with snippets of content containing risky keywords.
It is dangerous when teens share sexting pictures, but ignore the consequences, because someone might circulate their images online without permission. So FamiSafe launches Suspicious Photo Detection to tackle the problem. It can detect teens' nude selfies, nude screenshots, or other explicit photos in kids' phone galleries.
Once teens take or receive sexting selfies and save those into phone galleries, parents will get alerts, and then prevent them from uploading and sharing online. From kids' Android devices, parents can directly see the sexting images remotely.
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As teens access the Internet every day, the chance of them being accidentally exposed to sexting sites or apps is also increasing. Web Filter is important to prevent accidental exposure and create kid-friendly search engines.
Besides, on kids' Android devices, parents can also view incognito browser history to know what sexting sites they secretly visit or hide.
When more and more teens would like to use vault apps to keep secrets, parental can't notice something might go wrong in time. But FamiSafe's Phone Activity on Android can allow them to see which apps teens use.
Once parents find out that kids are obsessed with certain sexting apps or install vault apps, they can directly block sexting apps or picture hide apps with FamiSafe's App Blocker feature.
TRY IT NOW BUY NOWThough talking about sexting is hard and tricky for parents, it can not only help teens make responsible choices but also navigate them in the world of sexuality. So, what are the tips?
- Ask their opinions about sexting.
- Take appropriate instances for your child's age.
- Discuss sexting law and child pornography.
- Tell the severe consequences of sexting.
- Talk about the importance of respectful relationships.
Here is what should parents do if someone sends your kids an inappropriate picture:
- Ask the person not to send.
- Delete explicit messages directly.
- Block the person who keeps sexting.
- Report sexting.
What to do if kids are victims of sexting? Many social media sites can help teens with image-based abuse, online harassment, or leaked sexting. Here's about how to report sexting on different platforms.
Once report sexting, Facebook will send a formal warning to the reported person.
Report sexting on Twitter. You can stop harassers from contacting or following you.
Once someone is reported and blocked, they won't be able to find your profile.
Report a harasser by taping Report User in the chat, then tap Report and Block.
Snapchat will block the account of reported people or notify law enforcement.
Open the profile of the person you want to report and press Report or Block.
Related Sexting Topics
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