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

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

Intercept SMS Text Messages

As sending SMS text messages from cellular phones has become a centerpiece in teen social life, parents, educators and advocates have grown increasingly anxious about the role of cellular phones in the sexual lives of young adults. A recent survey from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project (pewinternet.org/topics/Teens.aspx) concluded that four percent of mobile phone using young people between the ages of 12-17 say they have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images or videos of themselves to other people via SMS text messages. This practice is commonly referred to “sexting” in today’s slang. Additionally, fifteen percent say they have received these kinds of images images of someone they actually know by way of SMS.

According to research from market researchers The Nielsen Company (blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/under-aged-texting-usage-and-actual-cost/) American teens send an undreamed of average of 10 SMS messages every hour that they are not in school or sleeping – and probably a lot during school too!

By studying over than 40,000 monthly US mobile cellular bills, Nielsen concluded that American teenagers sent an average of an inconceivable 3,146 text messages every month during Q3 2009.

SMS Text Monitoring

Their younger counterparts – tweenagers – aged nine to twelve sent about 1,100 texts each month. That that averages out to about four every hour they were in school or not sleeping. In comparison, the average number of monthly texts sent by all cellular users combined was a little more than five hundred. In the fourth quarter 2009, tweenage users from age 9 to 12 increased text usage by 8% and almost doubled their text message volume.

Monitor SMS Text Messages

Focus group findings show that sending provocative images occurs most often 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 where often one person hopes to be.

Teens were interviewed and gave Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and author of the report various explanations behind the impulse to get involved with 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 starting or maintaining a relationship. Sensitive images are also passed along to other people “… for their entertainment value, as a joke, or for fun.”

Teenagers also shared with researchers the peer pressure to share sexual pictures. Not surprisingly the report revealed that youths who are more intense users of cellular phones are more likely to to be sent inappropriate images. For these youths, the phone has become such an important conduit for communication and content of all kinds that doing without it is unlikely.

Perfect Storm Sexting meets Parental Control

The combination of 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 Teen Text Market Will Continue to Expand

Despite some indications that per user usage has peaked (they can’t possibly use them more can they?!?) Nielsen estimates that overall text message 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. Existing 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 teenagers. 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 kids then you’re probably not shocked by the usage statistics. But chances are you’re also either in denial that your children are involved in sexting, or you’re actively seeking solutions to the problem. While parents may fume 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 only about one penny. The real issue concerning parents 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 practical technological solution available for parents and guardians to find out what what’s going on with their kids is spy phone technology. An excellent source of information on spyphone software for Parental Control is SpyMobi Spy Phone.

SMS Monitoring Software

The impact of spy phone software is evident in the massive amount of keyword searches occurring on the major search engines. People often use these keywords for finding “How To” information on spyphone software to read SMS text messages, Call Logs and GPS Location include:

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How To Check Cell Phone Records,
 

How To Intercept SMS messages,
 
How To Intercept text messages,
 
How To Intercept a Cell Phone,
 
How To Track a BlackBerry Phone,
 

How To Intercept Calls,
How To Intercept Cell Phone,
 

How To Trace The Location Of a Cell Phone,
 

How To Intercept Someone’s text messages,
 

How To Spy text messages
and
How To Trace Cell Phone Number,

This long list of keyword phrases is presented to demonstrate that you may not be alone in searching for answers to some of today’s most important family issues. Visit this website if you would like to read more about reliable small business Mobile Monitoring Software for BlackBerry and Android Smartphones . Or follow this link if you are more interested in Parental Monitoring Software for BlackBerry and Android Smartphones

Posted on February 9, 2010 at 12:13 pm by admin · Permalink
In: Parental Control