"Nude Selfies"
on the 15th June 2015, the NCA (National Crime Agency), launched a campaign for parents to deal with an increase in young people sharing nude selfies.
The Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) said it receives on average one report a day of a child protection issue linked to sexting.
As Zoe Hilton, Head of Safeguarding at CEOP Command, said staff received hundreds of reports a year of "difficult and sometimes harmful" situations linked to sexting.
"We are talking about cases where sexting has led to a child protection issue," she said.
"Something that has started out as relatively innocent or normal for the young people involved has unfortunately turned into something that is quite nasty and needs intervention in order to safeguard and protect the child. Some of the worst examples are children sharing images of themselves and making themselves very vulnerable," she added.
To give parents the tools to deal with these issues and reduce the dangers of sexting, CEOP have created a series of short animations entitled ‘Nude selfies: What parents and carers need to know’. <<click the link
Please take the time to watch these four short videos
How common is sexting?
'Sexting' is an increasingly common activity among children and young people, where they share inappropriate or explicit images online or through mobile phones. It can also refer to written messages.
As a parent, it is important to understand the risks so that you can talk to your child about how to stay safe and what to do if they ever feel scared or uncomfortable.
What is sexting?
'Sexting' is the exchange of self-generated sexually explicit images, through mobile picture messages or webcams over the internet.
Young people may also call it:
'Sexting' is often seen as flirting by children and young people who feel that it's a part of normal life. <<< a really interesting and revealing report
'Sexting' is more common than you may think, and has been found to be commonplace amongst children and young people.
There was a 28% increase in calls to ChildLine in 2012/13 (compared to the previous year) that mentioned 'sexting' – nearly one every day.
Most young people do not see 'sexting' as a problem and are reluctant to talk to adults about it because they are afraid of being judged or having their phones taken away.
Sending pictures and inappropriate content has become normal teenage behaviour. A Channel 4 News investigation explores the issues in this video: Generation sex: explicit pics 'the norm' for teens.