Young people who practice sexting grow
A smarthpone it is a responsibility that young people acquire and that assumes the assumption of a series of norms. And it is not for less, the internet is a world that although it seems private, it can mean the opening of windows to prying eyes or the exercise of practices that in real life would not be realized. This is the case of sending photos and intimate videos to contacts.
This practice known as sexting It has serious consequences. An example is how a photograph sent to a contact can be sent to other people and eventually be transmitted along many terminals. Another risk is the hacking of the smartphone that can give access to this intimate content to strangers. Dangers that seem not to be appreciated by young people and shows that the number of adolescents who perform these activities has increased.
The mobile above the computer
About sexting speaks the meta-analysis published in the magazine JAMA Pediatrics. It shows how a considerable number of children under 18 practice or have participated in these activities during some time in their youth. More specifically, 1 in 7 participants has sent sensitive material and 1 in 4 has received it.
By platforms, the smarthpone is imposed on the computer as a platform through which to perform sexting. The age where these activities occur most is the section between the 15 and 16 years, while the beginning is towards the 12. A result that shows how the moment in which young people start sending these materials has come.
A situation that is related to the reduction in the age at which children receive their first smartphone. By age 12, the 75% of minors already has a smartphone, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, INE, figure that at 13 years grows to 83.2% and up to 94% at 15 years. Age in which the most present is sexting in minors according to this meta-analysis.
Prevent sexting
The best way to avoid these dangers is to prevent and for that, nothing better than education. Parents should have a talk with their children about the risks and about the responsibility they have in their hands. These are some tips that are offered from the National Institute of Communication Technologies:
- Emphasize prevention and instill in children a culture of privacy. To ensure that minors are aware of the risks that exist when they expose personal data publicly and value privacy.
- Talk with them in a reasoned manner about these issues, discussing the possible risks, giving examples of current events as well as generating an atmosphere of trust that facilitates the minor's exposing his ideas and problems and thus reflecting on the possible consequences.
- To transfer to the children the sufficient confidence so that, before an incidence in the Internet, they resort to the expert opinion of an adult.
- Learn about parental control systems and implement them to avoid problems derived from sexting.
Damián Montero
