Sexting

Sexting refers to sexually based phone activities, including activities such as sending or receiving explicit messages, images, or video through [Page 911]electronic means between cell phones. Individuals who engage in sexting usually do so to start or maintain a romantic or sexual relationship with another individual. Sexting is expected to increase among the general population as more individuals gain access to cell phones and the cost of text messaging plans decrease. Although explicit images or photographs existed long before cell phones, sexting provides new problems for privacy and security because of the ease with which a text message can be shared without the sender’s consent. Specifically, what makes sexting more dangerous in comparison with sharing physical copies of explicit images is the ability to instantly ...