Cell Phone Monitoring
Ignore This and You Might Ruin Your Kid’s Life – Sexting is a Potential Sex Crime
A recently published report by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy suggests that about 20% of teens (ages 13-19) and an incredible 33% of young adults (ages 20-26) have shared nude or semi-nude images of themselves either via mobile phone SMS text messages or by posting on the web. Teen girls are a little more likely to do this than boys and a very distressing 11% of the young teen girls (ages 13-16) admitted to sending suggestive photos of themselves.
mobile phone monitoring
Recent studies from The Nielsen Company and the Pew Research Center show several factors that should be causing concern for parents and guardians. These issues are also an opportunity for software solutions companies. There is growth in the percentage of teens that own cell phones, the amount of texting they do, and potentially much more serious the number of youths that participate in “sexting” – the sending of provocative images or text messages from cell phones.
What’s the fuss? Just innocent fun, youth exploring their new sexuality?
You might want to reconsider. Sending a sexually explicit picture of a child is a sex crime. Young people are being arrested, convicted and having to register as sex offenders. They are gambling with more than emotional distress and humiliation, convictions can trigger a restriction of school activities, such as sports, denial of college admission, and denial of student loan eligibility, and losing jobs. A felony conviction can also affect future employment opportunities, including law enforcement and other high-security clearance positions. In other words, they’re ruining their lives over a little “innocent” fun.
There isn’t anything innocent about it. {Keep in mind|Consider} that if a sixteen year old sends a sexting image of themselves – they could be breaking child pornography statues in most states.
Getting convicted in criminal court for “sexting” can result in other serious consequences. In addition to the potential jail sentence and/or fine imposed by the court, they may be required to register with the Sex Offender Registration Board for the next 20 years. Furthermore, the criminal court may order the surrender and destruction of the computer or digital devices used.
As texting from cell phones has become a centerpiece in teen social life, parents, educators and advocates have grown increasingly troubled about the role of mobile phones in the sexual lives of teens. A new survey from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project (pewinternet.org/topics/Teens.aspx) found that 4% of mobile phone using young people between the ages of 12-17 say they have transmitted sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images or videos of themselves to someone else using text messaging. This practice is commonly known as “sexting” in today’s vernacular. Furthermore, fifteen percent say they have received these kinds of images images of someone they actually know via SMS.
According to a study from marketing research firm The Nielsen Company (blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/under-aged-texting-usage-and-actual-cost/) American teens send an unbelievable average of 10 SMS messagesSMS texts every hour that they are not in school or sleeping – and most likely a lot during school too!
By evaluating over than forty thousand monthly US mobile phone bills, Nielsen concluded that American teenagers sent an average of an astounding 3,146 texts every month during Q3 2009.
Their younger counterparts – tweenagers – ages 9-12 years old sent an average of 1,146 texts each month. That that averages out to about four per hour they were in school or not sleeping. To put that in perspective, the average number of monthly texts sent by all mobile users combined was a little more than 500. In the fourth quarter 2009, tweenage users from age 9 to 12 increased SMS usage by eight percent and almost doubled their text message volume.
Pew Research points out that sending provocative images happens usually under one of three different scenarios: The first, exchanges of images solely between two romantic partners;
the next, lists exchanges between partners that are then shared outside the relationship; followed by, exchanges between people who are not yet in a relationship, but with one person hoping there will be one hopes to be}.
Teens were interviewed and gave researchers a variety of reasons surrounding the impulse to participate in sexting. These included the researcher’s interpretation that “…sexually suggestive images had become a form of relationship currency,”; that sexting images “… are shared as a part of or instead of sexual activity,” and that SMS text message sexting is a way of starting or maintaining a relationship. Sensitive pictures are also passed along to friends “… for their entertainment value, as a joke, or for fun.”
Teenagers also shared with researchers the peer pressure to share sexual pictures. Not surprisingly the report also reveals that teenagers that are intensive users of cellular phones are more likely to to be sent sexually suggestive images. For these teens, the phone has become such a common means for communication and content of all kinds that turning it off is nearly unthinkable.
The combination of risk-taking and sexual exploration during the teenage years mixed with constant connection using cellular phones and other mobile devices “…creates a ‘perfect storm’ for sexting,” said Pew’s Amanda Lenhart. “Teenagers have always grappled with issues around sex and relationships, but their coming-of-age mistakes and transgressions have never been so easily transmitted and archived for others to see.”
Despite the indications that per user usage has peaked, Nielsen forecasts that overall text message usage will grow as the heavy text messaging demographic ages and entices the older generations to text with them in order to stay in contact with them. Existing SMS users will continue to use texting extensively and as tweenagers age they will increase usage. The number of text messages sent per capita has grown every year and should continue.
If you’ve got teens then you’re probably not shocked by the usage statistics. But in all liklihood you’re also either in denial that your children are involved in sexting, or you’re actively seeking solutions to the problem. In all probability most parents don’t believe their teens are involved with sexting, or they are looking for ways to find out. While parents may get angry that all the texts their teens and tweens are sending are going to break the bank, Nielsen analysis indicates the average cost of a single text message is just one cent. The real issue concerning parents is not so much how often teens use their phones but has more to do with how they use their phones, and when they are using them.
Sexting is a very complicated topic. Consequently, it is very difficult to offer advice on how best to manage these situations. The National Center For Missing & Exploited Children policy talks about that there are four roles to every sexting case: the person seen in the image, someone who took the picture, the distributor(s) of the image, and the recipient(s) of the picture. In some cases one person may assume more than one of these roles (e.g., a child takes a sexually explicit image, of herself and sends it to a classmate). In other situations, multiple people may take on a single role (e.g., a child takes a sexually explicit picture of himself and sends it to a classmate who then forwards the photo to the entire high school senior class). It is important to think about the intent and motivation of each of the parties in every situation.
The National Center For Missing & Exploited Children advocates parents monitor cell phone use. A workable technological solution available for parents and guardians to discover what their {children are doing~what’s going on with their teens} is mobile monitoring technology.
Sexting can be illegal. Parents are responsible to stop it. Especially considering low cost solutions can be ordered over the internet. A really great software package that includes remote control of handset settings, and combines Phone GPS Tracking with SMS text message, Call Log, MMS multi-media message monitoring, and a web account for storage and review is PhoneBeagle.
Follow this link if you are interested in Cell Phone Monitoring Software that works with with BlackBerry and Android Smartphones,. Visit this link for more information regarding the latest software for
Parental Monitoring of Mobile Phones .
