School kids 'sexting for money': research

12 April 2016 - 17:56 By Roxanne Henderson

Sexting is becoming commercialised in Gauteng schools with learners selling sexual content to their friends. This is according to Professor Deon Tustin of the University of South Africa's Bureau of Market Research‚ who presented the findings of a report on compulsive cell phone‚ internet and texting behaviour in 11 Gauteng high schools at a Youth Research Conference in Pretoria.Tustin said that the research‚ conducted in 2014‚ had revealed that some learners snapped or filmed sexual content at school and then sold it to their friends at other schools.Twelve percent of the participants in the survey said they have sent sexually suggestive nude images of themselves to others via text. Seventy-two percent of the participants said they regretted some of the texts they sent.Thirty-eight percent said they formed new relationships with unknown internet users while on the web.Brad Huddleston‚ an American pastor and author of the book "Digital Cocaine"‚ said that in the USA children as young as seven years old are sending nude images of themselves."I know we're not supposed to say this in a secular space‚ but that's just wrong‚" Huddleston said.Huddleston said that around a million teens were leaving Facebook annually in the USA because their parents were monitoring them on the platform."They move the dirt to Instagram‚" he said.Huddleston said that the amount of pornography consumed by teens online was likely under-reported by participants in the research at the Gauteng schools.About a fifth of the participants said they accessed pornography online...

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