Sexting Argumentative Essay

Technology is always advancing. With the birth of new generations, it is being seen that children are easily learning how to adapt and manipulate these technologies to do whatever they want them to do. Take for example cell phones. When cell phones came out in the early 1970s they didn’t have all the different abilities that today’s do. They were just a big, clunky phone that was portable so that one didn’t have to stay in one spot in order to communicate with others. Nowadays cell phones have become smaller, easier to carry, and include nearly any application imaginable essentially turning the once basic cell phone into a portable, miniature computer.
With any given advancement in technology, there are going to be ones that misuse it. Computers gained hackers, credit cards information began getting stolen with skimmers and identity thieves, and with cell phones a new form this misuse was born, sexting. According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, sexting is defined as the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phones (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). The mere

thought of one’s child engaging in such activity is met with disgust by most parents of teens who are more often than not the ones engaging in this activity. According to a study by the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) children as young as seven years old have been participating in some form of sexting and it has been shown that the percentages of those participating rise with age (NAUSWT, n.d.).
Some people see the act of sexting as just normal adolescent behavior attributed to puberty and rising hormone levels. Others see it as a gross habit that has been brought up through the rise in access to technology. Unfortunately, many underage children do not understand that sexting can have unintended consequences. Sexting can bring misdemeanor charges all the way up to charges of producing and distributing child pornography that can land a person on the National Sex Offender Registry and even jail time (Thompson, n.d.)
In order to remedy the act of sexting in the younger population the juvenile justice system can implement more education on the consequences and repercussions that it can produce.

When a sexting incident lands a child or adolescent in a court room for a first offense there should be mandatory training given and privileges of cell phone use limited or monitored. To stop it from even getting to that point and hopefully reduce this behavior better sex education with a subject on sexting can be implemented in schools earlier on in a child’s life. This would introduce them to what they may face in their coming years and how to avoid it if it all possible until they reach an age where it is deemed more appropriate and less likely to have them facing legal consequences. Until things like these are implemented it is unlikely that one would see a drop in the previously mentioned population’s

participation.