Sextual + Nudie Pics = Digital Violence Among Teens

13 Comments

Taras Wayner and Chloe Gottlieb of R/GA presented Sextual + Nudie Pics = Digital Violence Among Teens at SXSW Interactive 2010.

With the advancement of the digital era many different aspects of communication have changed. Dating and violence among teens has changed dramatically and have crossed mediums. Now teens are faced with violence via texting and social networks.

Acording to Wayner and Gottlieb, nearly half of all teens between the age of 14-24 have been subject to some form of digital abuse. Most teens are exposed to three top abusive behaviors when it comes to dating — textual harassement, sexting and break-ins.

Textual harassement is described as incessant and controlling messages. The second most common abusive behavior, sexting, is not being taken lightly by one of the giant networks in pop culture.

MTV launched the “A Thin Line” campaign to help bring awareness to teens and parents about sexting. According to the campaign, 30% of teens have sent and received nude photos via text messaging. What teens must realize is that once these pictures are passed onto another person, he or she can no longer control who sees these pictures and where they are sent next. Once sexting occurs there is a 12% increase in suicidal thoughts.

The final final form of abusive behavior, break-ins, occurs an obsessed user breaks into another user’s account that he or she is stalking and then uses the personal information found to harass someone verbally.

Wayner and Gottlieb explain that dating among teens has become less formal and more social. What use to be a private thing among two people has now become public. Parents were at one time gatekeepers and were the ones screening phone calls their teens received. Now, teens have direct access to one another by their cell phones and most have unlimited call and data plans and have the ability to adjust parental privacy controls to limit what their parents are able to see.

In this new digital world, how do we educate and prevent teens from being a victim of digital violence? Is it as simple as taking the device away from the teen or is it time to find a new way to empower our teens?

13 Comments


  1. This is scary to think about. It makes me wonder what the teen dating world will be like when I have children. Twenty years from now technology and cellular phones will be way more advanced. Who knows what teens will be capable of.

    Sadly I don’t think the devices can be removed from the teens. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Spreading awareness can go a long way but it will never completely stop the problem. If awareness and empowerment are done right, it can decrease the problems.

    More campaigns should be launched on other channels that target teens. Maybe even have scenarios integrated in those teen shows.


  2. I agree that kids’ relationships are now more social than personal. I saw how difficult is was for my parents to allow me my own phone and talk on the internet through chat rooms; they wre incredibly sketchy with the whole idea. I’m not sure how I will act with my children, but I don’t want my kids to sneak behind my back and connect socially in secret.
    Also, I think that the new media interaction allows for more exploitation of gender (i.e., nudity). Middle school kids who are not ready to have sex are taking naked photos of themselves and send it digitally to their significant other. They feel OK about it because there isn’t this one-on-one interaction and the possibolity of bing shot down. This may even lead to earlier sexual interaction than what they are already participating in.
    Has media gone too far? Where will it stop? Have the dating sites and social media sites de-valued the dating scene? Is it better, or worse? I jsut can’t help but wonder if divorse will sky-rocket or diminish.


  3. This is proof that technology has it’s faults. I didn’t get my first cell phone until I was a junior in high school. Now kids as young as 8 are getting their own cell phones. I believe parents should educate their children on cell phone use before the children are allowed to have one. Also, I think parents should do the same when it comes to internet use.

    I think we need to find a solution to this problem. Parents don’t want to be overwhelming towards their children or too protective. However I believe parents can find a way to educate their children and warn them about the dangers of cell phones and the internet.


  4. Well I think this is a problem but let’s keep things in perspective. When my parents were teens, it was the 60’s and there was a Hell of a lot more sexual activity back then among teens and twenty somethings. It was in person to and accompanied by drugs and alcohol.

    I also recently returned from Japan where kids have cell phones when they start kindergarten. There is no real sexual use of the technology there in teens to speak of, so when people say it’s the technology that’s the problem, I point there and say “No it’s not.”

    I do think the verbal abuse is a problem as now it has become a constant, 24/7 feed of comments. I do believe that harassment on the internet or by phone should be treated they same as in person. Maybe that will get people to text as if they were speaking to the person’s face.

    I have a serious problem with this article’s statistic of a 12% increase in suicidal thoughts due to sexting. The sexting isn’t the problem; the carelessness of young kids trusting individuals with private images is the problem. It’s the shame of being exposed that causes these thoughts. Also the author did not state how he or she had arrived upon this statistic.

    Don’t get me wrong, I think there is an issue, but I just don’t see how it’s the inanimate object’s fault.


  5. I have to agree with this article about how the use of cell phones has increased abuse and harm with younger generations. Kids are now getting cell phones as early as 3rd grade and sadly those in middle school are now using them to send nude pictures to each other. I’m in utter shock at the amount of kids under the age of 15 sexting.
    I don’t think that it is necessarily the fault of cell phones because they are only an object. I believe the real fault lies in what teens are seeing on television. Another issue is with parents not putting enough restrictions on their child’s use of the cell phone. There is a way to block the internet from a phone and keep pictures from being sent and received.
    Unfortunately with all the media site out there like Facebook and chat rooms there isn’t a way to keep teens from engaging in these kinds of activities. The only way to help prevent these issues from occurring is to try and educate them as much as possible. If more networks put effort into that I think there could be a change in how teens act.


  6. Instead of removing phones/technological devices, parents should educate their teenagers on digital violence. Years before, parents were afraid to teach their kids about the birds and bees but now it’s being taught in classes. Why not add digital violence in there too?

    Although “A Thin Line” campaign has been launched, there’s also a need for parents to do their part as well. Since not all parents understand this situation, they too should know the dangers of “sexting” and the effects it’ll have on their kids’ futures. Like I said before, there’s no need to take away devices; there’s just a need to educate parents and teens about sexting.


  7. I really support Mike’s comments earlier. Lets ignore the medium in question and take a look at solving how we should educate (key word) kids on the relationship between actions and consequences. The issue is a current problem, but there is a bigger issue buried in this story.

    We’re all subject to making mistakes when we’re young, but some mistakes are easily avoidable. MTV is doing a great service shining awareness on sexting, but the responsibility of raising an adult falls on parents, not cable television.


  8. I am honestly not that surprised by all the “sexting” among teens. I think teens today are more sexually active and with the newest technology that just adds to the drive. I mean look at the iPhone, they have even created a “Safe Sexting” application (http://mashable.com/2009/12/23/safe-sexting/). So, the real question is where is it going to end? If technology is keeping up with the latest “trends,” such as sexting, it’s just going to get worse as time continues.

    It really comes down to parents and even the school educating their kids, but at the same time teens need to have a moral understanding of what is right and wrong. I just think that once those pictures are out there, even if you make sure you send it to one person, those pictures or words can come back to haunt you. Have teenagers not learned anything from little miss Vanessa Hudgens? Or is that just it? She does it, so why can’t I?

    I think it’s most important to teach teens about the repercussions of their actions. But, it’s ultimately up to the individual in the end.


  9. This is great that more attention has been raised of the sexting problem. I think parents need to step in and talk with their teens about the potential harm sexting can have. I know my parents always told me to remember that I don’t know who is at the other end of the phone or computer screen. This is something all parents should focus on.

    It is great that MTV has created the “A Thin Line” campaign against sexting. I think that other media need to get involved and help increase the awareness among teens.


  10. I respect the fact that more attention is being given to these issues but in the end I still reflect some of the responsability/blame on the parents. When I was little I had very little internet supervision and never abused it because I was always brought up understanding the dangers of online life. I really think that more and more kids are falling prey to some of these issues because the parents aren’t informed on current issues and there for can’t effectively guide children to make the right choices…


  11. I support MTV’s efforts in creating awareness about the risks of sexting to the teenage audiences but, as mentioned earlier, I feel that parents need to be more aware about what is going on with their kids & not having cable television tell it for them. I know that parents have alot to deal with, but taking the time to learn about the dangers of sexting, social media, & the violence that can result from it can help them when coping with their teen’s behavior.


  12. Why is this even a discussion topic? The people who are sending hurtful/sexual messages are to blame, but this whole thing can be easily avoided. If a kid is stupid enough to send a naked picture of themselves then they should deal with the consequences. Why do people feel bad for them? It was their fault in the first place.
    The kids who are getting bullied via text could fix that problem by blocking their number. Then they can’t receive text from them anymore. All of these problems come from kids in high school. High school students are not mature enough to have cell phones. It’s up to the parents to teach them how to use it properly.


  13. Interesting, I guess I barely missed this wave of horror. What I didn’t understand is the sexting, I’m not sure whether it is directly used to be violent, however in the article it seemed that it was a direct hazard. Isn’t sexting just phone sex with texts?
    Over all what I say to this is more funding in education. Kids will just huddle away in their social whatever you callits and they will always do this to themselves. The only thing to do to have great programs in school that BASH those little huddlings apart, over and over thats how it will have to be done. These programs will give kids a chance to escape, but I don’t what exactly they will be: Champions? Also more skateparks, skateparks turn kids into honest adults.

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