Today’s PsychCentral.com highlights a recent study that found one in five teens are using cell phones and online technology to send sexually explicit pictures of themselves to others. The research is from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com. (Click here to read the original report.)
PsychCentral founder John Grohol, an expert in online psychology issues, says that the “online disinhibition effect,” the phenomenon that prompts people to say and do things in cyberspace that they wouldn’t ordinarily say or do in the real world, is strongly at work here. He notes that nearly one quarter of teens say that technology makes them personally more forward and aggressive. According to Dr. Grohol:
The scary part is that most respondents agreed that engaging in this sort of behavior “can have serious negative consequences” but do it anyway. Although respondents realize how easy it is to save these images and share them (about 40 percent of respondents said they did so) with one’s friends or post them online (perhaps long after they’ve broken up), it doesn’t appear to be stopping anyone. While an old love note passed around might cause embarrassment, a sexually explicit image passed around could cause much more trouble than mere embarrassment if it surfaces years later as one is applying to graduate school or for their first job.
Yesterday’s Vital Signs column highlighted an interesting study about teen online behavior, in which a researcher, “Dr. Meg,” alerted kids on MySpace.com about potentially embarrassing content they had posted on their personal pages. The warnings worked, and many kids changed their postings.
But parents can’t count on Dr. Meg to keep their teens in check. PsychCentral offers some commonsense suggestions to teens before they hit the send button, such as reminding them that nothing “will truly go away” once it’s in cyberspace.
For more about the online disinhibition effect, read this 2004 article from the journal CyberPsychology and Behavior.
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A new twist on an old problem. The problem is that teens don’t realize as adults do the potential long-term consequences of their actions.
Trouble is, once that nude and lewd picture is out there, it does not go away (even when you’re 50), as might an abstract act that could be dismissed as a “youthful indiscretion.”
— jackWhat isn’t discussed here is the moral hazard this brings to guys surfing the web for pornography.
Whether or not you want to admit it on this civilized discussion forum, pornography is a major part of internet traffic and a significant percentage of men (if not a majority) look at it. I admit it, I am one of them–or I used to be until I decided to quit because it had become compulsive and I felt it was harming me.
Back when I looked at porn, I found myself moving to public photo sharing sites where some women post amateur erotica. I found this more “natural” and attractive than commercial porn, and it had the added benefit that I knew the “models” weren’t being exploited by some nasty porn industry.
But it made me feel deeply uncomfortable to realize that some people posting erotic pictures of themselves are underage. It’s part of why I quit.
Part of the problem is that Hollywood (and our society in general) has been sexualizing youth in these past few years.
— RyiekComment removed
— Rob L, N Myrtle Beach SCWell, as long as you have shows where girls learn to pole dance and strip “as a way to be more confident with my body”, it is hardly surprising that they will be taking nude shots of themselves an releasing them. Don’t even get me started on Tyra Banks’ amateur models and their “European” poses. If the girls really had any self-confidence, they would flatly refuse.
Could somebody please tell the kids that confidence is the opposite of pleasing the crowd? As long as normal decency is seen as silly and something to get rid of, we have not seen the end of these shots and their circulation in cyberspace.
— SusannaIt’s not just that the images are “out there”. Depending on how revealing the photo is, these teens may be technically creating and distributing in child pornography. Teens have been convicted of being child pornographers for doing this - and are now officially sex offenders.
Frankly I think our laws need to catch up to reality. Teenagers taking racy pictures of themselves should NOT require lifelong registration as a sex offender.
— JenKSure, some kids will get into trouble this way, but it’s unlikely that these things will effect future employment - at worst they’ll cause significant embarrassment.
I agree with JenK, our bigger concern should be to avoid criminalizing kids.
— AI have seen this in my little sister’s age group. The smartest thing to do, if someone is intent on sending them, is to send them cut off before the face. It’s not ideal but a safer way to avoid any lasting consequences.
— AshleighHow many of these suggestive pics are being sent between boyfriends and girlfriends? I’ll be it’s around 70%.
— Samurai ScientistThis scenario is very alarming, for certain. Another frightening angle - A teenager’s cellphone and computer frequently are paid for and registered with service providers in the parents’ names. I would think that unwitting parents could possibly be held liable for distribution of underage porn. I am not an attorney, nor an expert in cyber-crime, and I would be interested in hearing from someone who is.
— MacKayYes, because grad school admission committees and HR departments always use company time to Google for amateur nude pics of applicants. Which, of course, are always up under their real names.
— Ken MondscheinThis is disturbing on a number of levels….
1) I suspect most of the provocative photos are of GIRLS. And in a society such as ours (the U.S.), the fact that these girls are posing in this way, probably isn’t coming from a mentally/ sexually healthy place. In other societies, it might not be as big a deal. But in the U.S., because of our phobias about seeing (gasp!) naked bodies or sexual images, the end result is that these girls are doing this because they’ve been taught that their value is in their looks…their sexual attractiveness…that it’s “cool” to be seen as an object for boys. In other societies that have healthier ideas about the naked body, these problems are less existent.
2) The fact that nude images is even being discussed as an “issue” perpetuates the notion that nakedness is a “bad” thing. What if these pictures weren’t specifically titillating? What if they were very simple photos of naked or partially naked girls or boys….just very natural photos? I suspect in the U.S., there would STILL be an uproar. It’s the nakedness that bothers people here. And how twisted is that, that the very body we all possess…the very body that allows us to go about our daily lives….to allow us to function…that this body is considered a “dirty” thing…a thing to be embarrassed of…that should not be shown except in “certain” instances to “certain” people?
And again, what’s at the root of this wharped perception? Religion. Always the cause of SOOOO many problems in this world.
Can you say Middle East? Can you say India? Can you say United States?…..
— Molly HWhile this can be dangerous for young kids and for the occasional, unfortunate adult, the fact that so many are doing it may bring about a healthy and needed change in our culture. After so much overexposure, the next generation may see nudity as commonplace, unoriginal, unremarkable, and totally acceptable. People in the US are way too uptight about being naked, being seen naked and seeing other people naked. The cure for nudity phobias is more nudity!
— HoorayI wonder: will having naked photos of yourself discovered someday be like saying “I inhaled”?
If so many of this up and coming generation have these out there, it will almost by definition lose it’s consequences.
— Brooklyn_FrancisCompare this story, about the rampant exchange of sex photos, with Floyd Norris’ story in the business section today about how the company that owns Penthouse can’t raise new financing.
What’s wrong with this picture (no pun intended)? I have several conclusions:
1) Amateur sex pictures are more appealing than commercial ones
2) Sex pictures are participatory, therefore fun. Penthouse pictures were taken months/years ago and are static, hence no fun.
3) If titillating is free, how can a sex-based business make any money?
— Ted KanterGet the facts! Save yourself and your teens!
Read “Generation MySpace” by Candice M. Kelsey
— TOMSAILI say so what: Queen Victoria has been dead for more than 100 years. I’d be more concerned about teen pregnancy, trafficking, and venereal disease, which actually have consequences beyond those imposed by overzealous guardians of moral purity and snickering classmates.
— Josh HillPerhaps we can learn from the sex education debate for this instance as well. Sex among teens has been happening for centuries, and isn’t going away, so promote condoms instead of sticking to an abstinence only education; a no brainer (you’d think…). In the same light, teens will continue to use technology to reveal themselves, so promote a form of media which is less likely to be digitally reproduced and distributed as easily (like skype or gmail video chat), as opposed to digital photos. Using these forms of media mostly assures that the recipient will know the person and both parties will consent to viewing the material, instead of digital photos where once it’s out there, anything goes.
— GGI find it interesting that in promoting the concept of self-censorship, they are doing nothing but reinforcing many of the same negative attributes that have driven today’s teens from mainstream media.
What needs changing here is the way our culture negatively interprets the free viluntary exchange of information, not the spread of free information.
— GregWhat’s wrong with being prudish or better yet, modest? It is a great virtue–leaves something to the imagination, is not harmful to the individual and will never deprive you of dignity, a positive body image, a great job, relationship, or friends.
Posting nude pictures is the opposite of self-acceptance, despite what the porn industry, teenage boys , many men, and a number of posters to this site would like girls to believe.
— VickeryI doubt the pictures will cause long term negative effects. This society is so sexualized (you can barely turn on broadcast TV and not see sexual innuendo rampant on most “family” shows) that I imagine in a few years employers won’t care if their job applicants once posed as porn stars. Porn is becoming mainstream and soon no one will care.
— KatheyI guess in the age of celebrity upskirt shots sans underwear this would logically follow.
— Running“What’s wrong with being prudish or better yet, modest?”
Nothing. That’s your choice. Feel free to hide as much as yourself as you wish (or deemed appropriate).
But don’t assume that everyone else has the same viewpoint and feels the same way…
— Michael LongPractical question: considering the zero-tolerance attitude law enforcement takes towards child pornography (and the draconian punishments meted out) , should the recipients of these images be worried? You’re sixteen, your significant other/friend/etc. send you a ‘lewd’ photograph. Great. Everybody has a great time.
A few years go by and you bring your computer in to be repaired. They notice a teenager in flagrante, call the police.
— FendoI’d like to think this would be outside the scope of the law, but it wouldn’t be.
Any predictions?
I’m scratching my head about this one.
The idea of broadcasting my “business” on the internet goes completely against the grain–not because I’m a prude, but because it would seem to diminish my “degrees of freedom.” As a young person, I would have perceived this as a loss of control–something compromising my self-determination, because so many people would have an opportunity to prejudge me on so many levels (and for so long!).
Beyond this, it’s scary that sexual images on the internet may exacerbate the problems of pedophilia (that’s the way it seems, anyway, although I don’t have any stats at hand).
But of course, this is a different generation. Technology and the internet is practically coded into their DNA. They exist on “ambient awareness.” Presumably, sex means something to them (or means very little to many of them), that older generations don’t comprehend.
About all I can do is to look to the heavens and beg to keep them safe, because for sure—I needed divine intervention to be safe at that age…..and I didn’t have a fraction of the opportunities to mess up.
— WesleyThere are MANY adult women whose lives have been badly damaged or destroyed by photos shot by their husbands with their cooperation. Many of the early generation of amateur internet models were forced to sell their homes, or lost jobs, or have been ostracized by their communities, and they’re consenting adults. Children are by their very nature unable to think in an adult way, and thus unable to even understand what all the fuss is about. The problem is that the boyfriend who you sent that cute photo to at age 14 may be madder than hell at you when you’re 21, and send that photo to the medical college admissions officer, or to the leaders of a church you attend, or to the federal government when you apply for security clearance, or post it on all the utility poles in your neighborhood, and so on and so on and…
Kids are going to do stupid stuff. it’s just inevitable. As parents all we can do is to try to make them aware of the consequences of their possible actions. If they plan on a lifetime at McDonald’s slinging burgers, then the photo they take today just might make sure that they end up just where they want. Talk to your kids. It’s okay to scare them, but always try to remember, they CAN’T think like adults yet.
— Marcus