Sexting and the Line

February 22, 2010  
Filed under News

Tory Osment|| Web Editor

Lately the issue of sexting and other messaging abuse has gotten the attention of the media and MTV has a new campaign, A Thin Line. The point of this campaign is to make teens aware of the dangers of sexting and even texting things that may harm someone emotionally.

One commercial of a young woman in a towel poses as “Rachael’s sext” and claims to be around forever. Another of a girl who sent her boyfriend a nude photo and claims that it is not like the whole world will see it. There is no guarantee that once a sext is sent it will be kept private. Things happen and some people forward messages like that of show them to others. This is the message MTV is trying to get across teen minds with their A Thin Line campaign.

Another commercial shows a young man getting tattooed with words and phrases texted to him. This resembles the lasting effect words can have on a person.

The more “real” commercials promote a discussion between a group of teens, one question refers to sneaking peeks at a boyfriend/girlfriend’s phone while he or she is not looking. Even sneaking looks at someone’s phone is an invasion of their privacy, one girl admits to having looked through her boyfriend’s phone while he was sleeping and another girl share a story of catching her boyfriend looking through her phone. Trust is another issue A Thin Line brings up; trust someone enough to not go through their phone while they aren’t looking.  The questions these teens are prompted to answer are more than just sext related, the teens talk about saving messages that may not be sexual but may be personal, how messages can be kept forever and may leak out to people they were not intended for. One discussion topic even brings a law to the table, if you are over 18 and are caught with a nude photo of anyone under 18 (even yourself) you may be registered as a sex offender.

A Thin Line shares with teens that there are thin lines between a lot of things: public and private, confidential and consequential, insult and injury, your right to know and his right to privacy, staring at the screen and hiding behind it, curios and controlling, words and wounds, him and the whole school, fun and forever, friends and a mob, this moment and forever, delete and forward, attentive and obsessive, lol and omg, and a joke and a threat. All of these lines are to help teens understand the law, their rights, and the reality of texting, sexting and even online messaging.

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