Let’s Start Encouraging Reading Again

This article (linked below) is about the prevelence of teens sending nude pictures of themselves on the internet.  The picture (shown above) they chose to run with this article disturbs me.  To begin with, don’t you think there should be a little racier photo?  Why have an article about teens sending naked pictures of themselves accompanied by a studious, bespectacled young kid next to a pile of books and an apple?  Is this really the most appropriate photo they could find?  Is this kid some sort of professor of teenaged nude photos on the web?  Is he just typing up his nightly online teenage porn summary?  Who is this kid?  I must know.  Is he just a really sophisticated young pervert?  Alright, I’ll stop.

Do you have a son or daughter who’s a teenager?  Yes?  Ok, then gather up four of their friends and picture one of them naked.  No?  That’s frowned upon?  Well, news to me because a new poll has shown that 20% of all teenagers have “posted nude photos or video of themselves on the Internet.”  Those of you who just opened up a new browser should be ashamed of yourselves.

To take matters further, “15 percent overall said they’ve sent nude photos to people they only “knew” online”.  Now, I’m going to foot most of the problem here with the parents.  If your kid gets the shakes and starts frothing at the mouth when they’re not on their computer for 15 minutes, you should look into this.  Odds are they’re the ones sending these pictures.

The article then goes on to say, “This is, of course, despite the fact that almost three quarters of all teens and young adults surveyed say that sending sexually-suggestive content “can have serious negative consequences. Clearly, this is an issue of ‘do as I say, not as I do.'”  Really?  Is this, of course, despite the fact 3/4 of all teens said it was wrong?  Is this really a case of do as I say and not as I do?

Well, let’s do some math here to figure this out.  20% say they’ve sent naked pictures or video online.  Almost three quarters, or 75%, of teens say sending naked pictures online can have serious negative consequences which means that 25% of teens think that sending naked pictures online won’t have a serious negative consequence.  So 25% think sending pictures online is ok and 20% have.  Yup, math checks out.  I think the sentence should probably read, “This is, of course, because of the fact…” and “Clearly, this is an issue of do what I say and do what I do.”

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081211-20-of-teens-say-theyve-put-nude-pics-of-themselves-online.html

This is Good News for:

1. American School System – Sure, our kids are using technology to send nude pictures to each other, but hey, at least they are advanced enough in technology to know how to do all this.

2. Pedophiles – Bookmark this article now, pedophiles.  Christmas has come early.

3. Religious Right – Didn’t they warn you that letting your children play with Jews was going to cause disaster?

Come on in, have some tea, leave a joke, vote in the polls.