I'm skeptical, but that's what a recent survey indicates. From Ars Technica:
What good would technology be if people weren't constantly using it to send naked pictures of themselves to each other? I would know, too—since the age of 12, my inbox has been filled with inappropriate photos of people whether I wanted to see them or not (in fact, there might be some in there right now). Like most tech trends, however, the oft-inadvisable act of sending nude photos to people on the Internet is being adopted en masse by young Internet users, with fairly large numbers of teenagers posting them online or—even worse—sending them to people they don't even know.
A survey of 1,280 teenagers (users age 13-19) and young adults (age 20-26) conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com has revealed that one out of five (20 percent) teens overall have posted nude photos or video of themselves on the Internet—that number goes up to a third when young adults are included. While 71 percent of teen girls and 67 percent of teen guys who have sent these photos say they've sent them to a boyfriend or girlfriend, 15 percent overall said they've sent nude photos to people they only "knew" online. For women, that percentage stays the same when they turn into young adults, although the percentage of young adult men goes up to 23 percent.
It doesn't even have to be teens! I found out over Thanksgiving break that my two nieces (10 years old) were fooling around with a camera and a friend. Those pics were posted on-line. From the description they gave me, it sounded to me like those pics could have been considered child porn.
They wanted to show me the pics (giggling the whole time) but I declined. This upset them and they told me that they had wanted to send the pics to me via e-mail! (Thank God they didn't do that). I wound up having a conversation with them about on-line behavior that was filled with ellipses because at ten they don't really get the whole sex thing yet, just babies. I also had to have a talk with their parents, too.
In short, I can totally believe this article; I think 20% is low. Even young children have access to a lot of technology and taking a pic and posting it on-line is nothing to these kids. They can do it in sixty seconds. Given the curiosity many children have about their growing bodies, and toss in the technology, and you have a recipe for real problems in the current environment.
Posted by: Daniel | December 13, 2008 at 12:14 AM