Technology, digital devices, and the internet have allowed teens to always stay connected with others. They love spending time online. They enjoy uploading statuses on their profiles, sharing photos on Instagram, sharing tweets on Twitter, and sending instant messages to one another.
They think social media is all about fun and entertainment until it’s not. It also has a dark side to it. Teens can make wrong choices while using social media platforms. Sometimes they can share, post, or upload something that can be inappropriate. One wrong decision can affect the rest of their lives.
Sexting has become way too common amongst teens. They enjoy exchanging sexually-explicit messages with one another on instant messaging apps and don’t find anything wrong with it. However, sexting can leave a negative impact on their lives and can ruin their reputation forever.
To find out whether teens are involved in sexting or not, most parents are using the best free hidden spy apps for Android or iPhone to monitor their text messages. By monitoring their text messages, they can find out what their teens are up to on the internet and they can intervene in the situation before it goes out of their hands.
Dangers Involved with Sexting
Most teens think sharing and exchanging sexts with one another is normal. They don’t find anything wrong with sexting as they think that everyone is doing it. On the other hand, there are some teens who think sexting is a joke. Teens who are involved in online relationships might also be forced or pressured to exchange sexts with their partners.
What most teens fail to realize is that sexting can have serious consequences for them. It’s important that they know all about the dangers involved with sexting so they can stay away from it. Every teen should know about the dangers and risks involved with sexting. Let’s take a look at them.
Sexual Bullying
As soon as your teen exchanges a sext with another person, they will lose all control over that message. Anybody can read it, copy it, and share it to sexually bully your teen. Slut-shaming is one example of sexual bullying.
People can have random expectations about your teen’s sexual activity and reputation and then start bullying them for it. What’s more, they can share the photo on the internet to humiliate your teen or even impersonate them.
Sexual Predators
Another danger involved with sexting that every teen should be aware of is that sexting can open the door to sexual predators. Once a sext has been exchanged, you cannot control who is going to see the photo or who is going to forward it to someone else.
There are numerous cases where a teen discovers that one of their intimate photos or videos has been forwarded on various WhatsApp groups and has been seen by so many people. Once the photo becomes viral on social media, there’s a high chance that a sexual predator may see it and reach out to your teen to sexually exploit them further.
Risk of Being Blackmailed
Teens can be easily tempted to share intimate pictures with their online partners during an impulsive moment. However, what they do not realize is that they can be at risk of being blackmailed in the future.
There have been so many cases where the recipient of the intimate photo threatens or blackmails to shame the sender. Usually, teens who receive such threats give in to the demands of the blackmailer and do as they say. They are too embarrassed to share the story with anyone else and keep fulfilling the demands of the blackmailer for a long time.
Sexts Cannot Be Deleted Permanently
There is a common misconception among teens that they believe all the messages including photos and videos shared online or even on social media apps like Snapchat can only be seen by the recipient. Once they are sent from the teen’s side, they can’t seem to have any control over them. Anyone can copy them, share them, and repost them on the internet.
Even though snaps vanish once they are seen by the recipient on Snapchat, they can still save the images by taking a screenshot or taking a picture of them from another camera. Many teens have faced similar situations on Snapchat.
Ruins Teen’s Reputation
Sexting can have serious consequences on teens’ lives as it can ruin their reputation forever. Intimate pictures and videos once shared with someone become viral online can destroy the teen’s reputation. The person who receives such photos might share them with someone else.
This usually happens when two teens break up and then share each other’s intimate photos with someone else. This can be embarrassing and humiliating for the teen and can destroy their online reputation as well. People can form different opinions about your teen just by taking a look at those pictures.
To keep your kids away from the dangers of sexting, it is important that you educate them on the emotional and legal consequences of sexting. By letting them know about all the dangers and risks involved with sexting, you can keep your teens from getting involved in inappropriate online behaviours like sexting.
In case you feel your teen is too shy or embarrassed to share anything with you about their online activities, you can set up the best spy app for Android or iPhone on their cell phone and monitor their text messages.
