Posted on 12/10/2008 11:26:19 AM PST by Fractal Trader
The high school in Salem, N.H., was abuzz last month as a photograph of a topless 15-year-old girl was sent from cellphone to cellphone.
School staff intervened, and by the time they met with students in assemblies the next day they had discovered another compromising cellphone photo, this one of an eighth-grade girl. They soon found two more photos of naked or nearly naked girls on students' phones. Two weeks later, a similar incident occurred at nearby Sanborn Regional High School. The photograph in question was of a teenage boy.
A report being released today shows that these were not isolated incidents but part of a national trend. One-fifth of teenagers surveyed have sent or posted nude or seminude pictures or videos of themselves, usually to a boyfriend or girlfriend, and almost a third have received such images, according to "Sex and Tech," a new study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com.
Among young adults (ages 20-26), the numbers are higher: One-third said they have posted or sent racy images of themselves, and almost half have received them. TRU, a company that specializes in youth research, conducted the survey online with 1,280 teenagers and young adults selected from its database of research participants.
A spokesman for the National Campaign, a nonprofit group that advocates for sex education and access to contraceptives, said he is concerned about the link between what happens online and what happens in real life.
"What young people report is that this sort of online behavior contributes to a casual hookup culture," said Bill Albert, the group's chief program officer. "The overwhelming majority of teens and young adults don't do this, but when you get numbers like 20 percent and higher for young adults, that passes the threshhold of concern."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
“A report being released today shows that these were not isolated incidents but part of a national trend.”
Slut-Nation
Well, people in the past didn't have cell phones, whether they needed them or not. Just because we made do without a specific technology in the past is not an argument against that technology.
Do you not think that parents and student have always had need to contact one another, and there is always a way?
When I was in high school back in the early 90's and my phone broke down on a road in rural Michigan, I had to walk a mile, at night in January, to get to a phone booth to call my parents and a tow truck. Given the choice of having my son or daughter do that or use a cell phone, I know which option I prefer.
Every classroom should be equipped with those cellphone jamming devices,
Jamming devices are illegal under Federal law.
cellphones - if allowed - should be left in students lockers, turned OFF.
Why, other than your personal preference?
Or child support. Child support is not considered income.
Bet their mommies are proud of THEM!
“A couple of years ago I went and took the U.S.Postal Carriers exam, and we were told that if they heard a cell phone ring, that person would immediately be escorted out of the building and given an “F” on their test.”
.....if only white table cloth restaurants felt that way....also lecture classes...I really liked this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs6pxvFmrm8
I know lots of schools have the rule. I would tell my kids to ignore the rule and to keep their phones with them, set to either silent or vibrate. If I needed to reach them (or vice versa), that overrides such rule.
Not necessarily true. If you have viewed it,or even opened it, even if recieved erroneously, you could be prosecuted. Convicted? Not likely, but the prosecution process alone is very painful.
Yes let's get children conditioned to giving up all responsibility, rights and liberty. Let them grow accustomed to the inability to call for help, communicate home etc. That way the schools will turn out even more institutionally dependent, government socialized workers in the peoples republic of Amerika!
/s>
Better idea have a strict no public school policy and keep the socialist out of child raising!
You can be prosecuted for a lot of things, if there is a cowboy DA involved. It's actually not illegal to view child porn- if you walk into someone's house and they have child porn on their TV, you haven't comitted a crime. Knowingly producing, receiving or distributing child porn is illegal. Inadvertently or involuntarily seeing it is not.
Very true.
Some parents are also afraid to be “mean”.
They are afraid their kids won’t like them.
Respect is much more important than being liked. Being liked can come later. If your kid doesn’t respect you they are never going to like you anyway.
Pete? Mr Townsend? Is that you?
I remember a story from long ago, when most phones had rotary dials, and none had cameras.
It was summer camp. The girls were at a class. So, the boys snuck into one of their tents and "borrowed" a Brownie Hawkeye belonging to one of the girls. Of course, there was no danger of the pix being flashed thru uninvented cyberspace. But this was even better, because the film had to be sent out to be developed ...
Technology has obviously outpaced the ability to ethically control it. That is the point where parental control/guidance is the last defense. JMO.
I just got one of those "service messages". It was an ad to gift phone service to friends and relatives for Christmas. In fact, I think half of the "service messages" I have received are AT&T ads. I wonder when they'll start selling this revenue stream to other companies.
Fractal Trader said — “Possession of any pictures of nude children is a felony. The fact that they are juveniles does not play any role in determining guilt, though it might affect the punishment.”
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You said in response — “Nude pics of my kids in the bath tub or running around the house? I find that hard to believe. That would make my grandparents and parents felons. That is too broad.”
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Yeah, it is not strictly so, as Fractal Trader said. If one takes pictures of, let’s say, a group picture of nudists (i.e., families together), in a closed setting — that sort of thing is not illegal. And, likewise, if the setting is such, in your home that it’s part of the family pictures and is not meant or designed to be sexual in nature, then it wouldn’t come under that kind of law.
I think some people in this area of the law have lost sight (sometimes) of normal situations, and they get paranoid about *anything* that resembles nudity — which is going overboard.
Having said that, I’m not a nudist... LOL... I would be too shy... :-)
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As a side note, I’ve heard in discussion of some professional photographers who have taken nude pictures of children for what is called “art” and have them published and one can buy them normally, without any problems. I don’t have one... :-), but as I said, that’s what I’ve read. I can’t remember any names of professional photographers, though.
Reason number 10,227 as to why we homeschool!
Yep, given the chance a teenager can seize control over a household and rule over the inhabitants with an iron fist. I've seen it happen to friends, and they have no idea where it all went wrong.
Back in the day, someone in the group always had a nerdy older brother or a semi-perverted neighbor who had a basement darkroom for developing such pictures ... or so I was told ...
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