Teens and "Sexting"
rluquias
Newbie

I just read a heart breaking newspaper article about a young girl named Hope Witsell in Florida who committed suicide after messaging a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked. The photo was distributed throughout her middle school and she was ostracized mercilessly by her peers and to a degree by the school system as well (at least in her eyes) in the way they handled the situation. The article can be found here:

 

 

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/sexting-related-bullying-cited-in-hillsborough-teens-suic...

 

The article closes with some recommendations on how we as parents can attempt to prevent tragedies like this. Obviously, the most important thing is to be aware of our children's activities, not only relative to their use of the technology we provide them access to, but also remembering what we ourselves were like as children. If your child is caught "sexting", the emotional ramifications to him or her could be literally life threatening.

 

I'm writing here because I intend to to approach Verizon and other cell carriers about initiating a more robust education or awareness campaign for their customer base. I ended up here because I came across the forums while searching for ways to contact Verizon corporate. I'm thinking little things like an educational blog or article discussing the phenomenon, and ways the service provider can make technology use by teens and children safer. Another possibility might be some sort of pop up or link on the shopping pages, or even tied to a devices' description if it includes a camera on responsible use and talking to your children before allowing them to use a messaging service.

 

Anyway, this article affected me deeply and I'm hoping others will read it and pass on the link. Maybe we can make a difference by starting right here - post this message to various forums, copy the link and email it out, etc.

 

Second, if anyone has more ideas on how cell phone providers can help their customers become more aware or conscious to the potential damage that can be done with the technology we put into our children's hands, please reply here and I'll incorporate it into the message I send to Verizon corporate and other cell providers.

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Re: Teens and "Sexting"
HSS1971
Newbie

Yeah that is sad. A young teen girl makes a mistake and can't live down the consequences.

 However, I believe your efforts are misdirected. The cell phone carriers are NOT responsible for a teens behavior. The PARENTS ARE. The parents should be more involved in their childrens lives. Furthermore, why do children have cell phones to begin with ? Children DO NOT NEED cell phones. If they do "need" a cell phone it should be very limited service. Again, overseen by the parents.

 

 Parents should be held accountable for their children, NOT cell phone carriers.

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Re: Teens and "Sexting"
cstrait001
Specialist - Level 1

 


HSS1971 wrote:

Yeah that is sad. A young teen girl makes a mistake and can't live down the consequences.

 However, I believe your efforts are misdirected. The cell phone carriers are NOT responsible for a teens behavior. The PARENTS ARE. The parents should be more involved in their childrens lives. Furthermore, why do children have cell phones to begin with ? Children DO NOT NEED cell phones. If they do "need" a cell phone it should be very limited service. Again, overseen by the parents.

 

 Parents should be held accountable for their children, NOT cell phone carriers.


 

The point of the campaign is not the culpability of sexting. I agree with you that cell phone companies aren't responsible for such tragedies. VZW provides lots of content filters, Usage Controls and blocking options for parents who choose to give phones to their kids.  Cell phones carries can, though, help raise awareness of this social problem with ad campaigns and recruiting celebrity spokesman to speak to school children.

 

You may want to consider an online petition for people to sign before submitting your letter to the execs.

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Re: Teens and "Sexting"
rluquias
Newbie

:

Thanks for helping clarify. that is exactly what I was trying to say - I was not implying cell providers carry any of the responsibility for tragedies such as this, but rather they are in a position to help inform and raise awareness of this issue by virtue of the fact that as providers of the hardware every parent that buys directly from them are exposed to any message the companies choose to communicate.

Your suggestion to start a petition (as well as the others) is a good one I had considered, although I'm not sure exactly how to go about it!

Thanks.

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Re: Teens and "Sexting"
TheGreatOne
Master - Level 1

This reminds me of another story. Back awhile ago some other teen committed suicide over sexting. Check out the story here-->Teen Kills Herself Sexting    News video on it-->Video

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Re: Teens and "Sexting"
cstrait001
Specialist - Level 1

Try Facebook. I'm not an expert on Facebook, but I know you can start a group and people can automatically add the group to their Friend's list.  As more and more people get added, the more awareness is raised and you may be more apt to get VZW's attention. I know that VZW currently has an ad campaign ongoing about not texting while driving. VZW also has for years donated used cell phones to use free of charge for victims of domestic abuse.

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Re: Teens and "Sexting"
AlohaA
Newbie

I just found out my 13 year old daughter may be sexting her boyfriend. I am trying to find out if there is any way to monitor her texts and pics she is sending. I am also trying to decide if I should just take away the phone or just block certain numbers. The only way I find out these things is by reading her journal so I have to be careful how I handle this so that she still trusts me.

For those of you who do not have kids, you cannot understand the full situation. Having a cell phone allow you to keep in touch with your children at all times but it also allows them to keep in touch with their friends. It has become part of their social networking. I have parental controls on her phone and computer. But she is extremely protective of the phone so that I cannot see what she has on it. It is easy to delete what ever pics and messages she has on it so that I do not know what she is doing.

Thank you for putting that article on this forum. I posted it on my facebook. She will see it and some of her friends will see it too. I will be talking to her about it today.

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Re: Teens and "Sexting"
SuzyQ
Community Leader
Community Leader

 


AlohaA wrote:

I just found out my 13 year old daughter may be sexting her boyfriend. ....But she is extremely protective of the phone so that I cannot see what she has on it.


 

OK--she's 13, she has a phone, (and a boyfriend?!?)  and YOU are the parent.  One of the conditions of having the phone should be that you have access to anything she does with it - you are paying the bill, you are responsible for what happens with it - correct?  If she cannot live with those rules, then block all texting, or take the phone away.  Yes, I know it is a communication convenience for YOU - my kids did not get phones till they got a driver's license and were out on their own--and we had rules about their use.  If ANYTHING inappropriate happened it was gone--simple.  And we (parents) had access to their phones at any time.

 

 

Call me old-fashioned, naive, unrealistic, out of touch....or whatever, but a 13 yr old who has enough "freedom" and opportunity to be sexting a boyfriend  AND a Mom who "cannot" see what's on her phone, and who has "to be careful how I handle this so that she still trusts me" - is wrong on so many levels it astounds me.

 

And yes, I have kids, who are now 18 - 24, and we did have our confrontations and problems - and there were times (stll are!) when our kids did not like us, one bit!  You can't be their "friend" and a parent at the same time, not till they are MUCH older!!  It was never a matter of "trust" - we didn't "sneak" looks at their phones, they just knew we were paying the bill, and we had access - it was a condition of them having the phone.

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Re: Teens and "Sexting"
lalalamesss
Contributor - Level 1

Kudoz, Suzy!

 

Parents should realize it is THEIR responsibilty to monitor what their children do.

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Re: Teens and "Sexting"
tweetheart
Enthusiast - Level 3

I just found out my 13 year old daughter may be sexting her boyfriend. I am trying to find out if there is any way to monitor her texts and pics she is sending. I am also trying to decide if I should just take away the phone or just block certain numbers.

 

What you need to do is step back and listen to what you've said. This child, yes, 13 is still a child, and she has no rights to the cellphone. You're the parent, you pay the bill. Block that messaging ASAP or it's going to get worse. Check out the Parental features that Verizon has. You can set an Allowance for usage, etc.   By all means, if you think she's sexting. Take action.

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