According to the study, one in seven minors and one in three adults has shared an intimate photo or video of themselves. The survey also shows that two-thirds of minors consider sexting unacceptable, and that young women send intimate photos of themselves more often than young men. 25–34 year olds actively and voluntarily send most sexual content.
Consensual sexting is most common in partnered relationships, but it is not unusual among complete strangers, especially teenagers. “They are most likely set to behave in such a way to impress their peers and others around them. They need to feel accepted and be considered cool,” says psychologist Jarmila Tomková, consultant for the global Safer Kids Online project.
Speaking generally, sexting describes sharing and receiving one’s sexually explicit messages, videos or photos in the digital space. It can start as a joke or as innocent fun with friends while discover one's sexuality, or as part of a more or less serious relationship. However, like any other online activity that involves sensitive data, sending intimate content carries potential risks.
Nothing that is shared, even only once, can ever be fully deleted, and can be used in bullying or blackmailing. The abuse of sexual content that had been sent consensually occurs mostly among disappointed partners after a breakup. According to the aforementioned ESET survey, 20% of children who have ever sent such photo have had their content misused. The most common social media for unauthorized dissemination of intimate content among teenagers are Instagram and Snapchat, followed by Messenger and Facebook.
“Although we can see from the survey that consensual sexting is more likely to be experienced by adults than by adolescents under the age of 18, it is primarily teenagers who are victims of some form of abuse,” says Vladimíra Žáčková, cybersecurity specialist at ESET.
Don’t set up ultra-strict rules for using phones and social media, being overprotective towards you child can lead to an even bigger desire to participate in activities such as sexting. Educate your children about the unwanted consequences of sexting and use specific examples to illustrate the situation.
“If children come to you for advice, reassure them that confessing was the best move possible. Do not judge them. On the contrary, provide them with psychological support and acceptance so that they can regain confidence and a good feeling about themselves,” advises Jarmila Tomková. Communication is the key to a healthy home environment. Reasonable and calm parents are more like to be trusted by a teenager. A communicative and open environment leads to awareness, and limits the thrill of participating in tricky online activities.
The main rule for which you should seek agreement with your children is the use of personal information online. Are your kids confused about what to share and what not? Paint a vivid picture for them – just don’t post or send anything they wouldn’t want their grandparents to see. They should always take a moment to think about the stuff they are putting out into the online world, including their private conversations and chats. This approach limits the risk of having their intimate photos misused. “It may surprise you, but children are better at controlling the possibilities of social networks than adults. They more often block unknown senders of intimate photos or videos,” adds Vladimíra Žáčková, the cyber security specialist of ESET.
Kids should never send their photos to anyone they don’t know. Introduce them to secure messaging apps that assure the communication remains only between the sender and the recipient. There are apps like Signal and Wickr that offer the option of disappearing messages, and send the user a notification in case the recipient takes a screenshot of the sent photo. “Focus on early education and prevention, so that when kids start exploring their sexuality offline and on, they know the risks and how to avoid them,” says the psychologist Jarmila Tomková.
Non-consensual sexting is illegal, and your children should know this. In other words, any type of sexual message that both parties have not consented to is considered sexual harassment. Moreover, not only the sender but also anyone who forwards this type of content can be found guilty. Make sure your kids know that creating and sharing any sexual content of a person under the age of 18 is against the law. “Sexting between minors and adult-to-minor sexting may be classified as a crime of sexual coercion or as the production of child pornography,” states Vladimíra Žáčková, cyber security specialist at ESET, who continues: “It is very important that even children understand the risks of sexting and know how to recognize inappropriate requests for such content.”
It was 2015 when she first came across the Twitch streaming platform. Katerina Tuzarova aka OdetteD (29) had been playing computer games since childhood, and her hobby later turned into a part-time job that would provide her with extra income during her university studies. She became one of the top 10 female players of Age of Empires 2, a popular real-time strategy game. Here’s more about her experience.
Whenever you happen to be reading this sentence, there are at that moment perhaps millions of live viewers on Twitch, watching one of the tens of thousands live channels. Do your kids spend time on the world’s most popular content streaming platform? Here’s a list of things you should know about the service, prepared in cooperation with Katerina Tuzarova, aka OdetteD, a former Twitch streamer.
If you´ve ever seen your kid’s phone, you might have noticed an icon of a white ghost on a yellow background. This is Snapchat.
