Teen bares it all on cell phone now faces the consequences
By Mike Ferro
A high school girl who sent nude photos of herself via pix messaging to her boyfriends, later found out that copies of those pictures were being distributed in the boys’ locker room of Wisconsin’s Hudson High School.
With celebraties such as Paris Hilton finding fame as a result of nude cell phone pictures being leaked onto the internet, it’s not all that surprising many young teens are starting to see this as something trendy or risqué. This incident is just another example of technology being used inappropriately in the hands of a minor.
According to the Star Tribune two high school boys ages 17, obtained the nude cell phone pictures from the high school girl’s former boyfriends. The two boys then created a collage which was left in the boys’ locker room for all too see. According to police report, the girl was quite upset over the incident as she never intended them to be publicly displayed. The two boys were charged with defamation of character.
Apparently this incident is just the tip of the iceberg. Parents do not seem to be teaching children about the consequences of their actions using technology such as the cell phone, or when posting inappropriate pictures on social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace.
According to the professor of communication studies and reality TV expert, Laurie Ouellette, more teens today are facing even greater pressure to create larger identities and to become popular. Ouellette says teens attempt to increase their “friends list” in social networking sites by showing nudity to gain popularity.
So what can parents do to limit these kinds of incidents? They can start by educating teens. Just because digital pictures can be easily erased doesn’t mean they can’t be easily copied or distributed.
Also, parents can start by monitoring their children’s text messages, pictures, and social networking pages.
Some may see this as being too overbearing, but the responsibility ultimately falls on the parents, since they are the ones ultimately providing the tools.
Related:
Entry was posted
on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 7:57 am
under
Read more entries by Mike Ferro.
Stumble It!
