The principal of Lewiston-Porter Middle School recently suspended several of his male students who passed along a sexually illicit video—created on a cell phone — after school hours.

Principal Vincent Del’Osso investigated the students upon receiving reports of their behavior, Lew-Port Superintendent Chris Roser said, and police were notified.

“Nothing shocks me anymore,” Roser said, “but it’s a disappointment. And it’s disappointing that it keeps happening younger and younger. It’s just as vile and disgusting as it would be for older people.”

It seems the days of passing love notes that say, “Check yes or no” are on the way out, school officials said, and the advent of sexy-texts, or sexting, is posing a new batch of problems for administrators.

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Teen “sexting” is on the rise, but teens aren’t the only age group sending naked pictures of themselves to others via text message.

In a new survey of 1,017 teens and 1,049 parents nationwide, 28 percent of the parents say they engage in sexting, including sending texts with sexual content or nude pictures of themselves.

Charles Sophy, a child and family psychiatrist in Beverly Hills, Calif., says many of his patients who are parents engage in sexting, and not always with their partners.

“It’s a new and exciting way, for lack of a better term, to explore and express themselves when marriages are in bad spots,” says Sophy, who is on the advisory council for LG Text Ed, a program of LG Mobile Phones, sponsor of the survey.

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Bills making it a crime for one youth to send suggestive electronic pictures to another or to use chat rooms and other computer-assisted methods to threaten or bully a person younger than 17 have been signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal and will take effect Aug. 15.

House Bill 1259 by Rep. Roy Burrell, D-Shreveport, is designed to crack down on “cyberbullying,” while House Bill 1357 by Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma, outlaws “sexting,” or sending suggestive photos by e-mail, computer or other electronic means.

Burrell’s bill makes it a crime to send harassing or abusive messages meant to “torment or intimidate” anyone under 17.

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RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Typifying its mantra “Your Friend in the Digital Age,” Cox Communications led its 5th National Teen Summit on Internet Safety on June 15, 2010. Presented to inform both teens and parents of online safety issues, including cyberbullying, sexting and the potential long-term impact of social media posts on digital reputation, the Summit also featured discussions with a teen focus group led by children’s advocate and America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh.

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Teen sexting continues to be a huge problem throughout the United States, and officials in New York City are finding ways to discourage high schoolers from sending explicit images of themselves through their cell phones. What is their latest proposal? Suspending or expelling teens who sext or cyberbully other students…even if they do it off campus or during summer break.

Under the Department of Education’s proposal, sexting could result to a 90-day suspension for the offending students. The consequences for cyberbullying could range from a parent-teacher conference to expulsion.

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While Vermont previously considered legalizing teen sexting, New York City public schools may outlaw it entirely.

The New York City Department of Education has proposed a ban on cyberbullying and sexting. Not only would the ban prohibit both practices during school hours, but they would be illegal outside of school too, according to New York Civil Liberties Union takes issue with the proposal because, as WCBSTV notes,

Not only does the Department of Education want to ban sexually explicit text messaging that students may do off hours on nights, weekends and summer vacation, but they also want to punish them for it, handing out up to a 90-day suspension.

The consequences for cyberbullying could range from a parent-teacher conference to expulsion.

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Technology aims to improve our lifestyle and make it more convenient. Unfortunately, the disadvantage is always present. There is always pros and cons in everything. Sexting becomes one of the trend that rise up to teenagers and young adults. Sexting is an act of sending explicit messages or photographs between mobile phones.

Sexting has been reported in countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States. This has become a controversial issue after it caught the National headline, when an 18-year-old, Jesse Logan of Cincinnati took her own life after her boyfriend proliferate her picture that she had sent him during their relationship.

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Teens live in that wild, wild west and the “bad guys” they are apt to encounter at some time or another include social networking “creepers,” textual harassment, sexting, urban legends, identity theft, cyber bullying and predators.

In presentations he gives to students, school staff and parents, Detroit Lakes teacher and information technology specialist Kent Mollberg said parents need to get a handle on what their children are doing with technology they may not fully understand. Mollberg’s advice: Get educated.

Learn how to monitor web browsers and mobile phone call histories and check them often. Kids should not be allowed to clear them more than once a day.

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Sexting: Sexting is the slang term for the use of primarily a cell phone or other similar electronic device to distribute pictures or video of sexually explicit messages or photographs. A growing phenomena known as “Sexting” is causing a growing concern for parents, students, schools, and law enforcement.

We were first introduced to cell phones as a means to communicate when our schedules took us outside of the home. Next came the ability to send written messages, known as texting. As technology continued to improve, taking pictures with your cell phone became a great way to share photos with those not with us.

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Every advance in technology creates opportunities for sexual exploitation. From sexy pictographs on cave walls to the earliest drawings on paper, man has embraced each new communication device and used it to distribute sexual images. Among the first uses of photography was to make pornographic images, and we all know about moving pictures.

The difference with phone technology is that teenagers and preteens, not adult men and women, are the most avid users. It didn’t take long for youngsters to start using their cell phones to exchange sexually explicit pictures of themselves and one another. That makes this particular technology doubly dangerous.

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