Editor’s note: Some news, like this article on child ‘sexting’, is deeply discouraging and it is normal to want to back away and find something more pleasant. However, we bring this story to you because America’s children desperately need your intercession! The children of this nation are facing an onslaught of online exploitation and we need to stand in the gap for them. Please read more and pray!

The number of pre-adolescent children who say they have shared nude images of themselves more than doubled in the United States last year, according to new research. An online survey of minors showed that 14 percent of children aged 9-12 said they had ever shared nude photos or videos of themselves, up from just 6 percent a year earlier.

View Comments (6)

The spike, detailed in a recent report by a technology nonprofit that combats online child sexual exploitation, coincides with the pandemic, when lockdowns and coronavirus restrictions drove children to spend more time online than ever before. That screen time and a proliferation of explicit content in media could be combining to contribute to the growth of nude photo sharing. Beyond parental oversight, few safeguards exist to combat the problem…

Child safety advocates say that as children spend more time online, they see more sexualized content that normalizes “sexting” and nude photo sharing.

“The only natural outcome of content that exploits children is an increase in real-life exploitation,” Parents Television and Media Council President Tim Winter said…

Of the 9- to 12-year-olds surveyed in the Thorn study who said they had shared nude images, 36 percent said they shared them with someone they believed to be 18 or older…

The widespread phenomenon of sexting and nude photo sharing among children should serve as a wake-up call, said Helen Taylor, vice president of impact at Exodus Cry, an anti-trafficking group based in San Clemente, Calif. “Many children think it’s normal to request and send nude images and videos, and there’s increasing pressure on them to conform to this dangerous trend,” she said.

Taylor viewed the Thorn study as unsurprising given how readily accessible pornography is for children. Exodus Cry recently released a short film, Raised on Porn, highlighting the effects of childhood exposure to pornography. The group started a petition calling for pornographic websites to require age verification and IDs for users. Nearly 62,000 people had signed the petition as of Monday.

During the pandemic, recreational screen time among 12- and 13-year-olds doubled, from pre-pandemic estimates of 3.8 hours per day to 7.7 hours, according to a JAMA Pediatrics study.

In recent weeks, lawmakers in both parties have argued for stricter governmental oversight of Instagram and its parent company, Meta, amid reports detailing the photo-sharing app’s harmful effects on young users. Those effects include body image problems, according to researchers inside the company, and exposure to sexualized content.

How are you praying for the children in your life?

(Excerpt from World News Group. Photo Credit: Getty Images)