Texting or Sexting – Do you Know What Your Kids are Doing?

Intercept SMS Text Messages

As sending text messages from mobile phones has become a focus in teen social life, parents, educators and advocates have grown increasingly troubled about the role of cellular phones in the sexual lives of young people. A new survey from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project (pewinternet.org/topics/Teens.aspx) found that four percent of cell-owning young people ages twelve to seventeen indicate they have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images or videos of themselves to someone else via text messaging. This activity is commonly referred to “sexting” in today’s vernacular. Additionally, fifteen percent say they have received such images of someone they already know by way of SMS.

According to a study from marketing research firm The Nielsen Company (blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/under-aged-texting-usage-and-actual-cost/) American teens transmit an undreamed of average of ten text messages every hour that they are not in school or sleeping – and probably a lot during their classes too!

By examining more than forty thousand monthly US mobile mobile bills, Nielsen found that American teenagers sent an average of an astounding 3,146 texts every month during the third quarter 2009.

SMS Text Monitoring

Their younger counterparts – tweenagers – from age 9 to 12 sent about 1,100 text messages each month. That equates to four every hour they were in school or not sleeping. In comparison, the average number of monthly texts sent by all mobile users combined was just slightly above five hundred. In the fourth quarter 2009, tweenage users aged nine to twelve increased text usage by eight percent just about doubling the quantity of text messages.

Monitor SMS Text Messages

Focus group findings show that sexting happens usually during one of three specific scenarios: The first, involves exchanges of images solely between two romantic partners;
the next, lists exchanges between partners that are then shared outside the relationship; followed by, exchanges between people who are not yet in a relationship, but with one person hoping there will be one.

Teens were interviewed and gave Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and author of the report a variety of explanations behind the impulse to participate in sexting. These included the researcher’s interpretation that “…sexually suggestive images had become a form of relationship currency,”; that sexting images “… are shared as a part of or instead of sexual activity,” and that SMS text message sexting is a way of establishing a relationship. Sensitive images are also passed along to other people “… for their entertainment value, as a joke, or for fun.”

Teens also shared with researchers the peer pressure to share these types of pictures. Not surprisingly the report revealed that teenagers that are intensive users of mobile phones are more likely to receive inappropriate images. For these young people, the phone has become such an important conduit for communication and a variety of content that turning it off is unlikely.

Perfect Storm Sexting meets Parental Control

The desire for risk-taking and sexual exploration during the teen years mixed with routine connection using mobile phones and other mobile devices “…creates a ‘perfect storm’ for sexting,” said Pew’s Amanda Lenhart. “Teenagers have always grappled with issues around sex and relationships, but their coming-of-age mistakes and transgressions have never been so easily transmitted and archived for others to see.”

The Teenager Text Market Will Continue to Grow

Despite some indications that per user usage has peaked (they can’t possibly use them more can they?!?) Nielsen estimates that overall SMS usage will increase as the heavy text messaging population ages and entices the older generations to text with them in order to keep in contact with them. Current SMS users will continue to use texting extensively and as tweenagers become teenagers they are in all probability going to follow the trends of texting established by current teens. The average number of text messages per user has increased every year, and there is room for growth.

Mobile SMS Tracking Software

If you’ve got children then in all likelihood not shocked by the usage statistics. But chances are you’re also either in denial that your teens are involved in sexting, or you’re actively seeking solutions to the problem. While parents may get angry that all the texts their teens and tweens are sending are going to break the bank, Nielsen research shows the average cost of a single text message is just one cent. The real issue affecting families is not so much how often teens use their phones but more about how they use their phones, and when they are texting.

Parental Control Software for Mobile Phones

A workable technological solution available for parents and guardians to find out what what’s going on with their kids is spyphone software. An excellent source of information on spyphone software for Parental Control is SpyMobi Spy Phone.

SMS Monitoring Software

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Posted on February 10, 2010 at 1:08 am by admin · Permalink
In: Parental Control Software, SMS Spy