Social media
makes information more accessible to Internet users. Almost all information
went online nowadays and Internet users gain access to them instantly. This
indeed brings great convenience to the human race. However, social media also
makes illegal material circulates quicker and further. Messages are brought to
inappropriate audience without proper censorship. To make things worse,
teenagers are not passively exposed to pornography online today, they are
actively exchanging inappropriate photos of themselves, a phenomenon know as
sexting (Siewert, 2015). Parents face great challenge to monitor what their
teenage children send and receive through social media.
According to
Siewert, teenagers make use of instant communication function of social media
to send nude photos of themselves to their girlfriend or boyfriend in the
United State of America (USA). They innocently believe that their photos would
stay private, but their photos actually circulate among their peers or even
spread to online pornography websites. Many youngsters do not know that sending
or owning sexually explicit photos of anyone under the age of eighteen is
considered as child pornography, which is criminal. Jaffe (2015) also mentions
in his article that some teenagers post photos of themselves on social media,
such as Instagram, to attract attention. Predators then make use of direct
message to ask for more sexually explicit photos from them. These teenagers are
at high risk of sexual harassment.
Juvenile may
face five years mandatory sentences upon receipt, distribution and production
of child pornography in the USA (Child Pornography Sentences, n.d.). Most
teenagers do not know the consequences of child pornography and many think that
it is no big deal since most peers are doing it. However, criminalizing all the
innocent teenagers does not solve the problem. Siewert mentions in her article
that some states take alternative approaches to penalize teenagers who engaged
in child pornography. For example, in Texas minors who caught for sexting for
the first time would be sentenced to community supervision upon completion of
sexting education course. Elsewhere, minors are sentenced to serve
community-service projects to raise awareness of sexting. Indeed, they should
be given a second chance to understand the aftereffect of sexting and child
pornography.
The measures
that have been done so far are mostly punitive. This will only prevent
teenagers from repeating the same act, but not preventing their peers from
committing the same crime. This is because teenagers tend to take the risk,
thinking that they will not be caught for sexting. Preventive measures that
focus on school education program should be adopted to complement punitive
measures. The purpose of education program is to change the cognition of
teenagers who think that sexting is not a big deal. These education programs
should serve to educate teenagers about various consequences of sexting. Also,
authorities like social media sites and parents should practice censorship to
the minors. By doing so, the number of first time offenders would be greatly
reduced.
Law
enforcement in the United States should work closely with high schools in the
USA to come up with educational programs that serve to alert students about
various consequences of sexting and child pornography. Teenagers may take the
risk of sending photos of themselves to their girlfriends or boyfriends
thinking that they will not be caught for it. However, they have to understand
that legal issues are not the only problems they may face for sexting. The
educational program should inform them the risk of their photos being spread to
others or even online websites. This may leads to blackmails or sexual assault.
These minors are exposing themselves to unknown risks. Some real life examples
of blackmails or sexual harassment can be presented during the education
program to deter teenagers from sexting.
In addition,
online social media like Facebook and Instagram should practice censorship more
strictly to those who are under the age of eighteen. Once inappropriate photos
of minors are detected, social media should have the right to inform guardians
of the minors. Social media should also alert teenagers when they have friend
or follower request from an ambiguous individual. This is to protect them form
predators of child pornography online. Guardians should conduct impromptu check
of their minors’ phones and computers to make sure that they do not own
sexually explicit photos of themselves and their peers. Parents can also place
the chargers in their rooms such that teenagers will not have access to phones
and electronic devices during bedtime (How to prevent teenagers from sexting
and protect them from other teens who do, n. d.). Some may argue that the
privacy of minors is being compromised and their human rights are infringed.
However, when teenagers cannot make right decisions for themselves, their legal
representatives should have the right to protect them from jeopardy.
In conclusion,
US courts should continue to penalize teenagers who misuse social media as a
medium for sexting and child pornography. At the same time, law enforcement and
schools complement punitive measures by providing preventive education
programs. Authorities practice necessary censorship to the minors to protect
them from illegal acts. These all sum together to allow social media to provide
a conducive space for sharing.
(830 words)
Child
Pornography Sentences. (n.d.). Families Against Mandatory Minimums.
Retrieved from http://famm.org/affected-families/child-pornography-sentences/
How to prevent
teenagers from sexting and protect them from other teens who do. (n.d.). Reputation.com.
Retrieved from http://www.reputation.com/reputationwatch/articles/how-prevent-teenagers-sexting-and-protect-them-other-teens-who-do
Jaffe, A.
(27 February 2015). The disturbing ways some teens are using Instagram. Identities
Mic. Retrieved from http://mic.com/articles/111304/the-disturbing-way-teens-are-really-using-instagram
Stewart, S.
(22 February 2015). Sapping nude images spells danger for teems. USA
Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/21/swapping-nude-images-spells-trouble-teens/23824495/
No comments:
Post a Comment