"Dude, check this out: This is when Adam fell down on his face in the snow in his driveway."
"Ha ha! Nice! Check out this fort I made with the snow in the front yard!"
"Ha, that's cool."
[third person comes in]
"Gentlemen...what's the word?"
"Oh, hey man! Nothin' we're just basically showing pics of winter."
"Yeah? That's boring. Well, I think I can top that. You know Betsy, right?"
[both say]: "Yeah."
[hands phone over]
"Dude, how did you get that?"
"What can I say, I'm a lucky fella."
"I knew she was hot...but, man!"
"Yeah, I know. Everybody keeps trading them around."
It's interesting, isn't it? Isn't it amazing how things evolve when we grow up and out of elementary school? There's always seems to be a craze. In my generation, whatever was popular, everybody had to be a part of it. For example, everyone was involved in Power Rangers (even the girls!) At my old school, we used to trade around certain vehicles (or Zords, which is what they were called then) and the figures themselves. It did not take long for the Power Rangers to fizzle out when they finally came out with their 12th different version in a span of five years.
Everyone had their own niche. Kids traded sports cards with each other. We borrowed really sweet Super Nintendo games from each other. Once that fazed out, we turned to playing card games. I don't mean your typical poker, solitaire, blackjack, rummy, or Tripoli. No, we had this new thing called "Pokemon," short for pocket monsters. Lord knows how much money was pissed away on those things. But, the kid that used to be in us is now long gone. We still hold on to some things such as old video games, baseball cards, and some action figures. Some of those things actually hold value, now. Old action figures that used to cost us $11 at Target are now worth $150 or more to others, 10-20 years later.
However, today's generations of young teens have something else to be trading around: Pictures of themselves.
No, these are not your own personal trading card you designed yourself. This isn't from the help any professional photographers. These are amateurs, and they are mainly taking nude pictures of themselves with their cell phones. You would be surprised to know how many teenagers in middle and high schools are using their phones as portable porn devices.
Research conducted by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy last month revealed that 20 percent of teens in the States say they have sent or posted lewd photos or video of themselves.
According to the national study, most teenagers who were sending the explicit messages were sending them to boyfriends or girlfriends, while others said they were sending the pictures in a bold move to secure a date, or to someone they had got to know online.
It's the craze! Ridiculous and wrong, this is what is has come down to now. While this is slowly becoming 'Kids Gone Wild,' there have been a series of arrests made in the last year, especially this week alone.
On Monday, six high school students in Greensburgh, Pennsylvania were arrested on child pornography charges. Three were girls who allegedly took pictures of themselves, and were charged with manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography. Three were boys from the same school who were found with explicit photos on their mobile phones by police, and were charged with possession of child pornography.
Last year, in Goshen, Ohio a 19-year-old cheerleading coach was convicted of indecency charges after taking a topless photo of herself and a 15-year-old girl.
While in Texas, a 13-year-old boy was arrested on child pornography charges in October, after receiving a nude photo of a fellow student on his mobile phone.
In an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer, Jim Brown, a school resource officer at Glen Este High School, thinks that it would be no surprise in how many students carry such pictures on their phone.
"If I were to go through the cell phones in this building right now of 1,500 students, I would venture to say that half or two-thirds have indecent photos, either of themselves or somebody else in school."
The study also showed that 44 percent of teens say it's common for sexually explicit images and text messages to be shared with people other than the intended recipient. I can guarantee you that my skankalicious alma mater at Huntington North High School would see the same numbers, if not, more.
There is an official term for this, and it is known as 'sexting.'
It's finally happening. This is real. Parents are becoming more laid-back and less responsible for their children's acts and behavior. While most teenagers make the least intelligible decisions, it would be the ones who own the pictures who would land in the most trouble. It's called child pornography. You can have yourself registered as a sex offender at such an early age. Before you begin your adult life, you would be risking your reputation (although, I don't think anyone gives a damn anymore) as your face would be etched alongside of those who are really into kiddie porn. Talk about being in such good company, huh?
Many of you think that this should concern me because I am only 21 years old and a college student. I do not have any kids, I am unwed. Despite that, I would expect for my kids to know better than to expose themselves publicly in such a lewd manner.
The message is simple: Be smart. As we go through the generations, we collect and traded things that hold some worth. As the next generations come through, they will be holding something else that holds a different value--time in confinement, and owing money that they don't really have.
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