Sexting on the "rise"

What did we do before text messaging came along? Countless misunderstandings, steamy affairs and harsh breakups have been the unfortunate results of text messages.

Face - to - face talking has become a rarity, replaced by cheeky ways of flirting ...

The days of passing notes in class are gone. Now, teens and students are turning to their cell phones and the internet to communicate.
New research shows "sexting", not "texting" is becoming more common and teens exchanging sexual images on their cellphones are now being prosecuted.

The Cyber Safety & Ethics Initiative shows of those who send or receive sexual content online, and also regularly use cell phones:

28% are in grades 10-12
26% are in grades 7-9
12% are grades 4-6

"Sexting" which involves sending sexy photos from phone to phone is a dangerous trend.

The teen engages in "sexting", a term for a kind of text messaging that often involves sending erotic, nude pictures from phone to phone, a trend that's been making headlines across the country.

A teenager, 18-year old Melanie Young says everyone is doing it. "It's like flirting and just having a little fun," says Young.

Young says, "I don't pose nude, but I do send pictures and get pictures and my brother says he gets pictures all day long."

In a suburb of Scranton, Pennsylvania police confiscated the cellphones of 5 students between the ages of 11 and 17.

16-year-old John Sciabica of Webster, New York is now facing 2 felony charges for similar circumstances.

Wayne County sheriff's investigators say Sciabica enticed a 15-year-old girl into sms texting him sexually explicit photos and a movie of herself. They say he forwarded these to friends. They charged him as an adult with crimes that carry maximum penalties of 4 and 7 years in state prison.

Experts say that "sexting" is becoming an all too common practice for many teenagers, who often think it's "no big deal" to send racy photos via email or sms text. Many consider it nothing more than sending a flirty note.

According to researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology, almost one-third of teens in grades 10-12 have sent or received sexual content online and they use cell phones. For children in grades 4-6, that number is still one in ten.


Attorneys like Dallas lawyer, Clint David say the practice is trouble waiting to happen. "It is the height of insanity to take a picture of yourself naked and send it to another person", says David. At least one teenager has landed in jail because of his alleged actions involving "sexting."

A 16-year old Pennsylvania boy was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography after police say he coaxed a 15-year old girl into sending him explicit pictures.

David says prosecutors can easily use felony laws written to punish pedophiles against teens who send or receive provocative messages. "The bottom line is kids don't do this, if you have pictures hit delete."

Young says a friend sent a nude picture to a boy she barely knew and it ended up being seen by every student in three schools. "You need to know the pros and cons before you send the message," says Young.

"Sexting" teenagers say they are quickly finding out that what was meant for one set of eyes is often revealed to the world.

7 things you didn't know your cellphone could do

7 things your cell phone can do that you didn't know it could!

• 1-888-FRUCALL: If you're in a store and you want to know if you're getting a good deal, call this number and enter the product bar code. For free, it'll tell you what you're looking at and what online merchants are selling it for.

• 112: Emergency dialing, even if your phone is out of service range or the keypad is locked.

• 1-866-411-SONG: If you're listening to the radio and a song comes on that you can't ID, call this number and hold your cell phone up to the radio. The company will send you a text message with the band and song name. It's free at first, but then you get charged.

• GOOGL: Send a text message to GOOGL (46645) with a search query, like "Chinese restaurants, Times Square" or "Weather 11215" or "Define existential" and you'll get a free text message right back from the search company.

• 1-800-555-TELL: Much like the Google service, except it's with voice not text. Call the number and you'll be walked through menus from which you can access sports scores, business listings, stock quotes and more.

• Popularity Dialer: popularitydialer.com. This is more for kicks. Let's say you've got a meeting coming up that you know you'll want to be distracted from or a date you know you'll want to break off early. You can schedule this service to call you at a pre-planned time. A male or female voice (your choice) will come on the time and start talking, like it's a real friend or a real interruption.

• 1-800-FREE-411: Free directory assistance. You have to listen to an advertisement, but at least you don't have to pay $1 or $1.50 for every call.

Time to unplug landlines?

Wireless. Take away someone’s wireless capabilities and you instill panic and fear into their ever rapidly beating hearts. Today, very few of us do anything in an average day that doesn’t involve at least a few wireless operations and the first thing you think of when this comes to mind is your wireless extension of ourselves, otherwise known as your cell phone. Most if not all of us would be lost without it, it contains EVERYTHING we need to function and communicate in this world.
It's true though we can make calls, send texts, browse the Internet, and for some, even send emails, It’s not necessarily the specific functions of the wireless that makes it so convenient and today’s MUST HAVE. No, it is the portability.

The very thought that we can do all of these things, including talk on the phone of all things, anywhere, any time. That is why the cell phone was invented. What was normally a gadget for emergency use only has become an everyday essential in today’s world. So the question begs then, what is going to happen to the land line? Are you the type that gabs on your home phone endlessly when you get home from work, or do you find that you spend more time on your cell, even when you are at home, than you do on a "wired" telephone line. There is no question that today’s business still needs the land line, without it the corporate world as we know it would crumble.

Or would it? Let’s revisit that in a few years and see if that’s the case, but when it comes to personal use, the land line is all but obsolete.

A recent study by Harris Interactive and the CTIA Wireless organization found that 40% of teenagers, today’s biggest talk time users, don’t even want a landline anymore. Gone are the arguments about getting your own phone in your room, instead they are replaced with arguments about whether a cell is even necessary. Most parents today would say yes, they want communication access to their kids, ALL the time which is why it is not surprising when these same researchers found that 84% of teens today have their own mobile device, with 15% of those users having their own smartphones even.

Times have changed, More and more people are losing their ‘home number’ because it is simply not a practical use of funds in today’s economy. The cell phone, once a luxury, has replaced the land line as a necessity, and the land line well….why force another monthly bill on yourself if you don’t need to? Do you need land lines anymore? Do you even have one?