Digital Smarts - The Why of Sexting

According to research on teen sexting, approximately 39% of teens between the ages of 13-19 have sent at least one sext message and 48% have received one sext message. Of the teens who have sexted, 63% said the photos were sent to a boyfriend/girlfriend, 29% said they sent them to somebody they were casually dating, 19% sent these photos to someone they didn’t know well and met online, and 24% sent them to someone they only knew online. As for the reasons teens sext, 49% said it was harmless fun, 39% said they did it to receive photos back, 16% thought it was a normal thing to do, 16% said they did it because everybody else was doing it, and 13% said they were pressured into sexting.

What is the aftermath of sexting? That is the part that is left out of all these stats, and the question taken up in a recent post on the Psychology Today site entitled The Aftermath of Sexting. The author of the post, Raychelle Lohmann, reminds teens and parents that kids need to be careful that worrying about the possible consequences of sexting don’t keep them from making good decisions, like getting out of a bad relationship or stepping up and getting help if they are being sexually exploited.