Student Union
Snapchat Fueled the Explosion of Sexting, Study Says
Sexting is growing among children in the United States, particularly as more of them use smartphones, according to new research.
Over the past decade, researchers studied more than 110,000 youths between the ages of 12 and 18, according to JAMA Pediatrics, a leading medical journal that publishes the latest clinical studies. The research, which was evenly split between boys and girls, looked at sexts that were sent, received, forwarded without consent and received without consent.
The prevalence of sexting — "sharing of sexually explicit images, videos, or messages through electronic means" — has increased in recent years as youths age and smartphone use increases, researchers said.
"The increase ... with age is commensurate with older youth having greater access to and/or owning smartphones compared with younger youth," researchers wrote.
The increased popularity of Snapchat — a smartphone app that deletes photos after 10 seconds — led to an expanded rate of sexting. The website Tech Junkie reports that originally it was teens who used the app for sexting, but now people of all ages use it. And, Tech Junkie warns, photos can be saved, even without the sender's knowledge.
"Perform a quick internet search for 'save Snapchat pics' or words to that effect, and you will see a few hundred websites purporting to show you how to keep snaps you are sent," stated an April 2017 blog. "Some will even show you how to do it without notifying the sender that you are saving the snap. That alone should send alarm bells ringing."
More studies needed
Researchers noted that the smaller studies contributing to the meta-analysis of the more than 110,000 children do not offer specific, consistent details about who is sexting when, only that it has increased over time and with the proliferation of smartphones. Delving further into the practice of sexting is needed for health care professionals to respond appropriately, they said.
"Media portrayals of sexting often implicate adolescent girls as the senders of naked photographs and adolescent boys as the requesters," researchers stated. "However, this popular belief and [data] were not supported by the present meta-analysis, which found no significant sex differences in the rate of sending or receiving sexts."
The earlier studies concluded that the percentage of tweens — or pre-adolescents — and teens who are sexting ranges "from 1.3 percent to 60 percent. The extent to which health care professionals, school personnel, policymakers, and parents should be concerned about this behavior is unknown." The meta-analysis narrowed that down to between 14.8 percent and 27.4 percent sexting among 12- to 18-year-olds.
Younger teens "may be particularly vulnerable to sextortion [nude images and/or videos used as a form of threat or blackmail]," researchers said, "and may be at risk for a host of risky behaviors and negative consequences."
"Further research focusing on nonconsensual sexting is necessary to appropriately target and inform intervention, education, and policy efforts," the team wrote.
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Police in Washington cleared a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at George Washington University early Wednesday, arresting 33 people, authorities said.
Arrests were made on charges of assault on a police officer and unlawful entry, the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department said.
A congressional committee canceled a hearing on the university encampment Wednesday. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith had been scheduled to testify about the city’s handling of the protest before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
University parents and faculty members gathered Wednesday afternoon for a press conference to condemn the handling of the protests by police and school leaders.
“The university clearly does not value the students at all and has endangered the safety of our children by unleashing officers dressed in full riot gear to assault and spray our children in their eyes with pepper spray,” said Hala Amer, whose son participated in the campus protests.
Police said they dispersed demonstrators because "there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest."
American University professor Barbara Wien said she stayed in the encampment with GW students. She described the student protesters as democratic and peaceful.
Police started to shut down the tent encampment after dozens of protesters marched to GW President Ellen Granberg's on-campus home on Tuesday night. Police were called, but no arrests were made.
Speakers at the conference called for Granberg’s resignation because, they alleged, she refused to meet and negotiate with student protesters.
“You keep inciting violence and ignoring the students,” Amer said about Granberg in an interview with VOA after the conference. “It will just lead to more violence. You need to talk to your students.”
GW officials warned students that they could be suspended for engaging in protests at the school’s University Yard, an outdoor spot on the campus.
"While the university is committed to protecting students' rights to free expression, the encampment had evolved into an unlawful activity, with participants in direct violation of multiple university policies and city regulations," a GW statement said.
More than 2,600 people have been arrested at universities across the country in pro-Palestinian protests, according to The Associated Press.
Students are calling on their university administrations to divest investments from Israel or companies with ties to Israel. Demonstrators have gathered in at least 50 campuses since April 17, carrying signs that read "Free Palestine" and "Hands off Rafah."
Rafah is Gaza’s southernmost city, where most of the territory’s population has clustered. The area is also a corridor for bringing humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, while shutting off the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, drawing criticism from humanitarian groups. Israel said Wednesday that it had reopened Kerem Shalom.
The nationwide campus protests started in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza that began after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel warned it could "deepen" its operation in Rafah if talks failed to secure the release of the hostages.
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