MTV and A Thin Line conquer Sexting

The music network, MTV, has always been a network that is popular for teens. As a member of the “MTV Generation” I remember the days of watching music videos with my friends and squealing over the different artists that would appear on the screen with the latest tunes. As the years have progressed, so has MTV as they have added more than just videos to their agenda. They now have different types of programming, celebrity news, clothing and different campaigns such as Rock the Vote which was geared towards teens and politics.

The latest addition to their lineup has been a campaign for teens called A Thin Line. This is a campaign to educate teens on how their digital behavior can have disastrous affects. Not only will this involve combating sexting but they plan to create Public service announcements and show an episode about this on its True Life series. MTV commissioned a study involving 1,200 youngsters ages 14-24 asking how they behaved in the digital age. At least 50% admitted to being targets of this abuse while 30% stated that they had sent sexually explicit photos of themselves to others via text or online. When the problem was explored further, those who have been targeted are more likely to engage in sexual activity, drink, use drugs, smoke and get involved with criminal activity. This is criminal activity if you ask me!

MTV is doing a great thing here. Many times, kids do not think of the consequences of what they do. It is so important to raise the awareness of this problem so our children will remain safe out there. This is something that is considered “hot” amongst teens and many will do it believing nobody will see these photos but the recipient. However, recipients cannot always be trusted and eventually, these photos can wind up online costing someone a job down the line and ruining their reputation. Also, it can become an issue of distributing child pornography. In this digital age, nobody is safe and privacy has become non existent. As MTV is still popular with youths, having this campaign will be a great way of educating and raising awareness of this problem.

This sexting problem has not been an issue for long but it is rapidly growing. Parents and other adults need to educate themselves on this problem and talk to their children about this. At the end of the day, don’t we all deserve to be safe?