The British organization NSPCC, dedicated to child protection, has recently participated in two studies on the use of the smartphone to practice sexting, and the impact that this activity may have on children's social relationships.
As we told you in this article last year, sexting 'consists of the dissemination or publication of sexual content (mainly photographs or videos), produced by the sender himself'. For this purpose, the mobile phone or other technological devices are used.
The first conclusion is not encouraging, because after one of the studies (of qualitative type) in which the Safer Internet node and the University of Plymouth also participated, it is beginning to verify that Hard porn is consumed on a regular and normalized basis among minors, and this is leading them to generate and share sexting that mimics the type of sexual behavior reproduced in that genre.
What consequences can the observation of pornographic content have on children?
In the mentioned research Participants under 10/11 and 13/14 have participated. They are early ages for (especially those of 10 and 11 years old) to be consuming this type of content, however it does not surprise me (yes it shocks me), because for two years I have already spoken with several parents of children in those ages whose partners access pornography with total naturalness.
Apparently teenagers who receive sexting images from other people share them because they believe they are the equivalent of pornographic magazine clippings that were once shared.
They are not able to differentiate between images of professional erotic or pornographic content, and the images of classmates who have escaped the context in which they were supposedly shared
The influence of the pornographic industry, and more specifically that which produces hard (hardcore) pornography, does not end there: The content of the images that are shared as sexting is inspired by the sequences and customs observed in the toughest porn, which also makes them believe that these positions and actions are normal and acceptable: acceptable both to those who produce them, and to those who receive them and end up redistributing them.
In many cases these are images and music videos that encourage children to perform certain actions where normally the man treats the woman in a denigrating way, according to one of the reports
For adolescents, in addition, sending and receiving images of their body is part of the current way of flirting. But nevertheless, many girls still resist the requests of their classmates who in many cases are simply trying their luck, without having an initial bad intention of what to do next with those images in case of obtaining them
How should we act from family and school?
Experts demand a better sexual affective education, where it should be taken into account that social networks are already part of the social and loving life of teenagers, and not focus only on the biological aspects of sexuality.
It is also necessary to teach children to say NO on the Internet, and help them to discern what kind of sexual content is inappropriate. Many teachers, however, find it impossible to deal with children aged 13 or 14 with the issue of pornography, or why some behaviors that appear in such films are degrading: the cause is usually that parents simply would not allow to talk about pornography with students.
It is uncomfortable to talk about sexuality with children, and even more so it is to deal with especially complicated topics such as sexting or pornography, however I can assure you that if we take care of the parents (and in some cases) the teachers, of this task, nobody He will do it for us. It's about getting them to behave responsibly.
At the moment, there are no firewalls or filters capable of effectively blocking the sending and receiving of this type of content, much less considering that there are applications to practice it that are designed to appear to be other types of applications (calculators, browsers ...) and thus deceive teachers and parents, unable to detect by what means they are sharing this type of images and videos.
Therefore education in the use of devices (instill a sense of responsibility and commitment in young people), is necessary to then trust them, therefore the other option we have (this more extreme) is to remove the phones, something that from my point of view would be the only possible solution in case children participate directly in the sending or dissemination of sexting.
In the reports of which I speak to you it is also mentioned that the fact that Children do not ask adults for help (When, for example, they are pressured to participate in sexting) it is because they are afraid that their behavior will not be accepted. I add that there is often a lack of trust among family members.
The children must learn to respect themselves, and do the same with others, and when they are still small it is time to start addressing these issues from the family.
Images | GoodNCrazy, Summer Skyes 11 Source | Friendly Screens, Internet Risks In Peques and More | A study suggests recording the age of children who buy a mobile phone, Interview with Jorge Flores, founder and director of Friendly Screens
