The 'youngest person in Britain', investigated for sexting, is five-year-old
A 5-year-old boy is now being investigated by the British police for taking an explicit picture of himself and sending it to another child. Sexting, as it is commonly known, has been around for some time. What's concerning is the fact that since the last few years many minors are getting increasingly drawn to this unhealthy practice. Here's all about it.
The numbers are concerning
According to reports, more than 4,000 such cases have been reported since 2013, where children have shared explicit pictures of themselves with others. Most of these minors belong to the age group of 13-14. However, the ages have gone further down in certain cases. As mentioned earlier, the youngest person in Britain, being investigated by authorities for sexting, is just 5-year-old.
Fun or coerced ?
According to Helen Westerman, NSPCC campaigns manager, some are doing it voluntarily, as a dare or risk, which is being given to them by their friends. Others are being coerced into taking these images on some pretext or the other. Since most of them are minors, police are not taking legal actions. However, if these images get published on the Internet, it'll be catastrophic.
Awareness is the key
One of the reasons for this is the lack of awareness among teens. If they are educated about the consequences of sending these kinds of images, they would refrain from it. Kerry Smith of Plan International UK said, "People know there's an issue. They want that knowledge shared with their children and we've got to make sure that's what's happening in our schools."
Without sounding like a moral police here
Elders are also not setting a fine example by engaging in "sexting". If one takes a look at pornography sites, they are brimming with images that have been taken while texting. Even videos that have been made while making love have a separate category on porn sites called, "revenge porn." Pictures sent in confidence, once public, can be traumatizing. Make the smart choice.
