Most of those surveyed (73%) said they knew sending sexually suggestive content “can have serious negative consequences,” yet 22% said it’s “no big deal.”
Still, news reports increasingly document school-related or legal repercussions after indecent photos pop up online. And lawyers say there are many unanswered questions about whether young people who send their own photos could face prosecution for obscenity or child pornography.
“I do think people over 40 grew up with a different sense of this stuff,” Nightingale says. “Unfamiliarity with the technology plus hearing about some of these extreme stories on the news can combine to make parents feel so overwhelmed and intimidated that they just don’t want to deal with it.”
The survey also found 48% of teens and 64% of young adults have received sexually suggestive text messages; 22% of teens and 28% of young adults say they are “more forward” digitally than “in real life.”
Matthew Younger, 17, of Takoma Park, Md., says he has seen the pictures on other people’s phones.
“I feel pretty sure if you ask any high school boy across America, they’ll say yes, they’ve seen this kind of thing. It’s incredibly widespread.”
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