Retired assistant Detroit police chief talks about dangerous trend of children ‘sexting’

Officials say trend spreading to younger generations

DETROIT – “Sexting” is a dangerous trend among children that’s spreading to younger and younger generations.

Children as young as 10 years old are getting exposed to sexting, authorities said. What should parents look for and talk to children about?

New numbers are being released as part of a research study taking a look at teenagers, “tweens” and sexting. The numbers are shocking, and parents of young children will cellphones will no doubt find them very disturbing.

“I see too many kids with cellphones,” retired assistant Detroit police Chief Steve Dolunt said.

The trend used to be confined mainly to high schools. Then, it spread to middle schools. Now, even elementary school students have their own person cellphones.

“It’s become an epidemic, almost,” Dolunt said. “They start talking to other friends: ‘Check this website. Check this. You ought to text this. You ought to text that.’ It leads to sexting and child pornography."

People with the parenting app “Jimmy” analyzed children’s messages over a nine-moth period. They found more than one in 10 8-year-olds had been exposed to sexting. By the age of 14, that number climbed above 42%, officials said.

“It’s the world we live in,” Dolunt said. “It’s the sign of the times. It’s things that we didn’t have when we were kids.”

The study looked at 54 million texts and 1.5 million hours of cellphone use to figure out just how often children send each other nude messages, pictures or videos.

“Younger kids don’t really understand it because, unfortunately, they watch on TV, in the movies, in the music videos and they think, ‘Well, everybody’s doing it. Why can’t I?’” Dolunt said. “(They’re) trying to be cool, and then it graduates to they sent something to a girl. A girl sent something to them. Next thing you know, they’re asking for a picture, and before you know it, that picture goes viral.”

Experts said girls are more vulnerable than boys when it comes to being exposed to the risks. According to the study, sexting starts at an earlier age for girls. By the time they’re 8 years old, nearly 16% had already been exposed to sexting, compared to nearly 6% of boys at the same age.

By age 16, girls were still way ahead of boys in terms of being exposed to sexting.

The same study said by 13, 24% of children had been asked to send nude photos or requested photos themselves. Once again, those numbers were typically higher for girls.

Dolunt said anyone who has given children their own cellphones should talk to them about sexting and the risks involved and make sure they know what to do if they get an unwanted text.

“You need to keep control of your kids,” Dolunt said. “It’s called basic parenting. You don’t need a license to be a parent. They need to keep stricter control on their kids’ use of social media. They set the passwords. They don’t let the kids change them. There have to be repercussions. The parents have to, unfortunately, drop the hammer.”

Safety experts said the best advice is to talk to children openly about how pictures, videos, emails and texts that seem to only exist temporarily can live on forever in cyberspace.


About the Authors:

Derick is the Lead Digital Editor for ClickOnDetroit and has been with Local 4 News since April 2013. Derick specializes in breaking news, crime and local sports.