Sexting among teenagers more widespread than many parents think
Sexting has become a common practice among teenagers, who seldom consider the potential consequences of their actions, says Karen Pittar
As far as parents' nightmares go, it has to be among the worst: your teenager takes a provocative selfie and texts it to his or her "partner", assuming the photo will be their own little secret. But the relationship sours and the image is placed on the web, where it goes viral. Before long, it's there for the whole world to see - friends, family members, future employers, teachers and complete strangers.
Sexting = disaster. Or is it? According to a recent study in Australia, sexting is simply part of the dating process for high-school students.
The latest National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health, published last month, was the first time it looked at questions of sex and technology.
Parents need to teach their children how to make informed choices
"It appears technology and sexting is playing a big role both in courtship and in maintaining sexual relationships - it is the sexually active young people who are sexting and sending explicit material the most. Those who are not sexually active are not using it much at all," says the lead author of the study, Professor Anne Mitchell of La Trobe University in Melbourne.
Just over 2,000 Australian teenagers between 16 and 18 years old were asked about their sexual habits. While more than 90 per cent said they used social media, only 43 per cent said they had sent a sexually explicit text and 54 per cent had received one.
But when refining the search to look only at teens who were already sexually active, the stats jumped: more than 70 per cent had sent a sexual text and 84 per cent admitted receiving one - and more than half of these included naked or semi-naked images.
That's all very interesting but how do the Australian findings relate to Hong Kong and how widespread is sexting among teenagers here?