2nd Essay Final Draft

Sexting


Cell phones are not what they used to be, therefore they are not used just for talking to ones loved ones and friends. They have become a way for people to communicate in different ways. They are now used to text, to send and receive email, send and receive pictures and videos, to get information from the news, and for entertainment.
The first cell phone was used in Sweden by the police in 1946. They were not very efficient, they could only use it for 6 calls before it drained the car’s battery. In 1947 D.H. Ring, from Bell Labs, started the technology of modern cell phones. By 1967 you just were not able to use them very far without losing your call. In 1970, an engineer at Bell Labs, by the name of Amos Edward Joel developed a system called the “call handoff system”; this allowed you to make calls from one area to another.(techFAQ)
Cell phones are everywhere, work, school, transportation, and any where we go. It is the one thing we do not leave behind. The sad thing is that teens are using the cells phones more and more. They have even created their own language to communicate with each other and so that their parents do not understand what they are saying for one and to be able to text each other faster. Their language is just using first letters of the word, leaving out letters or even using numbers to stand for different words. As people catch on to what the language means they go back in and change it again. This has also affected the students in their spelling because they have gotten so used to using their made up language they forget how to use the real English language. There are now web sites where parents can go to find out the numbers mean and what the spelling to different words mean. In some states stores like Wal-Mart even put up posters letting parents know what they need to look for.
Schools have to watch students to make sure they are not using their phones instead of doing their school work. Even worse they have to make sure students are not using their phones when they are taking exams to text each other answers, the new way of cheating on exams.
Teens also use their camera phones to take pictures of things happening around them. Teens are taking inappropriate pictures of themselves and sending them to boyfriends or girlfriends and when they break up they end up sending the ones they have received to everyone they know or even posting them on the internet for everyone in the world, this of course is hurting them. In a Pennsylvania high school six students are facing child pornography charges after three girls took nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves and shared them with other male classmates. The authorities decided to file the charges to send a message to other students about sending pictures of this kind. “"It's very dangerous," he said. "Once it's on a cell phone, that cell phone can be put on the Internet where everyone in the world can get access to that juvenile picture. You don't realize what you are doing until it's already done." (Seranko could not be reached for comment on Thursday, and a woman who answered the phone at the Greensburg Police Department said, “Our department is not doing any more interviews on the case.”) But Patrick Artur, a Philadelphia defense attorney who by his reckoning has handled at least 80 child pornography cases, said the prosecution of minors for photos they took themselves runs counter to the purpose of both state and federal child pornography laws: Preventing the sexual abuse of children by “dirty old men in raincoats.”
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reported last month that a survey of 1,280 teens and young adults found that 20 percent of the teens said they had sent or posted nude or semi nude photos or videos of themselves. That number was slightly higher for teenage girls — 22 percent — vs. boys — 18 percent.” (Brunker)
Cell phones have the capability to access the internet so it is now easier for them to get on line. They get on to check their email, put pictures on line, go to MySpace, Facebook, download ringtones and games, so now they do not even need a computer. Problems begin when girls break up with their boyfriends and they have given them pictures of themselves. The boys usually end up posting the pictures on the internet to share with others. In Ohio a girl committed suicide after her boyfriend shared the pictures with some girls and the girls teased her and called her names. Sadly the girl stopped going to school, was depressed and ended up hanging herself. (Celizic)
Teens are texting so good that they can hold a conversation and text at the same time. They drive and text, that is how good they have gotten at texting. To them it is like typing was a few years ago their parents. It is becoming so dangerous that in some states it is against the law to drive and text or drive while talking on the cell phone. People’s lives have been lost because someone was not paying attention to the road and their driving which has resulted in fatal car accidents; sadly the other person was an innocent victim.