31
Mar
SEXting: Is Texting Dangerous?
by Genevieve Castonguay
0 Comments | Posted by thatgirl in Living Life, Making Waves, Take Care
“OMG! Did u hear that Jesse James cheated on Sandra Bullock?! What a JERK! 
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Image courtesy of TheKat11
This is one of many examples of texting that has made the availability and spread of information so easily transferable. While texting can be convenient, speedy and far-reaching, there is a form of texting called “sexting” that can become dangerous, damaging, and in some cases, illegal.
Sexting is defined as “the act of sending explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between mobile phones.” It’s hard to believe that anyone would allow themselves to be exposed and pose potential embarrassment to themselves or another party, yet sexting affects a vast amount of adolescents who exchange risqué information carelessly without thinking about the consequences. In fact, 20% of teens (13 to 19) and 33% of young adults (20 to 26) claimed to have sent nude or semi-nude photographs of themselves electronically according to a 2008 Cosmogirl.com survey of 1,280 teenagers and young adults of both genders. Another 39% of teens and 59% of young adults from that survey had sent explicit text messages.
If you know someone a little more difficult to get through to, make mention of a legal case involving a 17-year-old girl sending nude pictures to her former boyfriend. After having an escalated fight, the pictures began to circulate at their high school and the girl was the one charged as an “unruly child” based on her juvenile status. That may steer them away from sexting!
Teenagers are not the only culprits as many adults have been “caught in the act” of sexting. Case in point, take recent scandals involving Tiger Woods and another with Jesse James who both, through sexting, were exposed by their mistresses to be cheating on their wives. The damage plagued not only the sender of the messages but their entire families and careers.
The media also has acknowledged the relevance of sexting in today’s society and incorporated it into television programs such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the new generation of 90210. Ludacris even has a bonus song entitled “Sexting” featured on his new album, “Battle of the Sexes.” Newspapers and Web sites employ the term “sexting” regularly in article titles such as, “Joslyn James Denies Provoking Tiger Woods Sexting, Promises More Sordid Details Shortly” from Thehollywoodgossip.com. This exposure to the relatively new term prompts me to believe it will be in this year’s edition of the dictionary.
Behind all of the media hoopla and scandals, the message is clear. No matter how many abbreviations and acronyms are used; “Sxting in soooo not kewl…B safe & b smart! 
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