Teens, internet & sex

It's pretty much official. The internet and it's functions (message boards, chat rooms, IM, PM, Text, etc) dominate our teens communication preferences. A recent study found that teens spend over 30 minutes a day online (that's got to be a really low number). Moreover, instant messaging is the most common way that kids "hang out" and relieve boredom. Why this may or may not be new information, what seems to be a never-ending subject is the amount of sexual communication; both wanted and unwanted. The study by the National Science Foundation has found "Many teens are routinely exposed to pornography and sexual advances from strangers on the Internet whether they seek it or not..."

I don't know about the rest of you, but this information certainly isn't new, but I beg the question, when will this end? Can it end?

In Florida, they've recently passed a law that doesn't allow a sexual predator to reside within 1000 feet of any school, park, daycare or playground. Doesn't it seem that if the government can and will intervene locally to keep our kids safe, that they would online as well?

What's equally disturbing is that the internet is providing a haven of anonymous conversations that would otherwise be directed to friends and better yet, family. Separate findings mentioned in this article detail the extent which teens seek advice on sex and relationships from anonymous peers on the web — intentionally keeping their parents out of the loop. While the government can't control what's happening in our own households, parents can.

So where is loop hole here? Is this parenting style? Is this the students? A combination of both? Is there anything that we, as youth leaders, can do to lead students correctly in this? When do we cross the boundaries of parental roles? How can we tackle this proactively?

Only 5% purity

An alarming study was released yesterday on premarital sex. If you haven't heard or read about it yet, please GO HERE now.

The gist of it is, over nine out of ten people have had sex before marriage; 95% to be exact. I don't know about you, but this makes me rethink everything. It's one thing if the rate was 60%. Somehow, I could convince myself that a large majority of my students fell into the remaining 40%. But, it's not. It's only 5%. 5%! Come on! The moral purity of our culture is on a radical and alarming rate of decline. And to think that our students are in the thick of it should challenge all of our assumptions. What assumptions are you challenging?