sexting?!?

Texting has revolutionized the way people communicate in general, but especially in dating and relationships. When used appropriately, texting can help you communicate better because you can send a quick text to check in or update your bf or gf throughout the day. However, more often than not, texting becomes the means of viscous, drawn out fights. It's easier to say something cruel that you don't really mean via text rather than over the phone. The lack of personability in texting seems to give people the courage to say (or write) things they would not normally be inclined to say.



Perfect example. Texting makes it easy to prolong a break up; sending a text to your ex isn't quite as ballsy as actually calling so it gives just the right amount of mixed messages to leave everyone confused. It is definitely not as big of a gesture as calling or even emailing really, so the risk of rejection isn't as high. Still, the easy accessibility of texting means the lines of communication stay open for much longer, and this relatively new gray area in a relationship makes dealing with a break up that much harder.

People who are creating even bigger problems with texting are America's youth. How many articles do I have to come across, ABCNews, about teens sending "lude" photos of themselves to classmates via cell phone? Apparently, this new fad is called "sexting," and kids in this country are making headlines with it. This gets brought into the news and courtrooms when people try to argue that such images are child pornography.

In one article entitled "Federal Judge Blocks Charges in Pa. 'Sexting' Case" written by Michael Rubinkam, he explains the outcome of one (of many) cases in stating, "A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked a prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against three northeastern Pennsylvania teenagers who appeared in racy photos that turned up on classmates' cell phones." They couldn't press charges because the photos were not quite racy enough to qualify as pornography; Witold Walczack, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania was grateful for the decision but said, "This country needs to have a discussion about whether prosecuting minors as child pornographers for merely being impulsive and naive is the appropriate way to address the serious consequences that can result."

I think I agree with Walczack in that prosecuting those kids for something many others have gotten away with would have been pretty harsh. I think this country needs to have a discussion about why minors think it is necessary or appropriate to send nakey pics of themselves via text. However, it is kind of disgusting that in addition to adults exploiting child pornography, we now have to worry about the children doing it themselves.