When young people reach puberty and their bodies begin to mature sexually, they cannot help but be interested in romance. It’s natural. Both girls and boys think about how to make themselves attractive to potential partners. This is why it is also natural for flirting and sexual talk to go on in high schools. It can become offensive sometimes, but most kids can handle it because the students are all about the same age, maturity, and experience level. It’s also normal for teens to flirt and talk with their classmates about sexual matters online.
But there are enormous problems with teens getting involved in sexual relationships with adults. For one thing, it’s illegal. Why is this true even if the sex is something the teen agrees to?
The law recognizes that it is impossible for sex between an adult and a minor to really be mutual because of the older person’s power over the younger person. The law recognizes that, in our society, adults are often seen as being in a position of power or authority. The law also recognizes that when a teen has sex with an adult there can be a negative impact on the healthy sexual and emotional development for the younger person. So the law tries to prevent this from happening to a younger person.
You might think it’s just having fun to test out your power to be sexy online. You might also think about talking about sex to online acquaintances and posting sexy photos of yourself for strangers to see. But these are risky
behaviors. They can result in you receiving crude comments you aren’t prepared for and don’t want. Or it might feel romantic at the time. But going further and meeting face to face can harm you emotionally later.
Source: CyberSmart Curriculum
In response to this post please comment on the following:
Do you think that our laws regarding cyber safety go too far as far as young people are concerned? If so, how and what are your suggesting for changing the law.
If you do not think the laws regarding cyber safety go too far explain why.
If you think our laws need to stricter explain why and how you see these news laws.
Please be very specific in your responses. Give full sentences and well formed ideas.
chad kledzik
ReplyDelete3 hour
10-26-11
i feel that the laws are perfect wear they are for teens and older people. becasue older people are my power full than teens and with out them laws they can scared teens into it or boss them into it. But i feel that the laws are way to strick for teens with teens. it is the teens choice. And laws are preventing teens from being teens and it is changing life. and it is hard on teens and the troble ends up hurting the teens more than the choice that they made.
Peyton Lemerand
ReplyDeleteHour 3
October 26, 2011
I do not think that that cyber safety law is unfair. Teens need to have some sort of boundary to protect themselves from the harms of some old men might be thinking. Some teenagers are not very wise and they won’t see why it is so dangerous to talk to a stranger they think is nice. I think the law is good enough because they should have some sort of common sense to process the rest and see the dangers. Maybe the government could enforce it a little more by having someone to some talk to the kids about the possible outcomes so they will be more aware.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteZack Carter
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
I do not think the laws regarding Cyber Safety in teens go too far because although some teens are mature enough to handle themselves and actually understand what they are doing and what is acceptable and what isn’t, there are many teens out the who will do anything just to get some attention and perhaps the attention that they’ll be getting online from somebody isn’t the kind they should be. These laws just help to keep teens safe and keep them from doing things they might regret when they get to a point of full maturity. Most of the time teens do not think things through completely before they act, but these laws make people think twice before they act and talk to adults because it’s illegal and they could get in serious trouble. These laws do not go too far and that is my reasoning. I really don’t think that they should be much stricter though. Because teens that are going to do this, don’t care if its against the law, they really just want the attention, and getting them in even more trouble for it wouldn’t be a good idea. Also for the creepy adults who take advantage of the teens online, it’s not only them who are doing wrong. The teen/ teens involved more than likely are willing.
Joey Bandi
ReplyDelete10/26/11
In my opinion the current laws we have are very fitting. Today in this world, many predators are searching for people online. With adults having access to these kids the US and states need to make sure they can protect these kids and one way they did that was to make sex with a minor illegal. I myself never really understood why it was still illegal if the teenager agreed to it until now. This post made a pretty good explanation of why they made that the law. It could have a negative effect on teens to make them think their mature and can do whatever they want. This could lead to more sexual relationships or bad choices such as drinking and doing drugs. Although there is something that I think they should change. They should not necessarily make it illegal, but they should monitor the pictures that are being posted online to protect the kids. As for teens having sexual relations with other teens, this is alright, it’s the teens choice and if the parents have a problem with it? Let the parents deal with it.
Grant Harper
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
1. No, I believe the law is completely understandable.
2. This law prevents people from doing things they wouldn’t usually. Many times this plays with minors emotions and can lead to suicide.
3. I think the law is just the way it should be, there is no way to make them stricter.
Rachel Welniak
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
No, I don’t think the laws go too far. The laws are trying to protect their childhoods. Many teens think that are mature enough and capable of making those kinds of decisions when they aren’t. Unfortunately, many people find that out the hard way. A lot of teens will say that it’s just teens being teens and the laws are preventing that but I disagree. I have yet to meet a teenager that is mature enough to live their life on their own, let alone making their own decisions. You can be a teen without being involved in sexual things.
Tyler Shroyer, 10/26/11
ReplyDeleteI do not think that our laws referring to cyber safety go too far. These laws protect teens from doing things they are not prepared for, such as posting “sexy” pictures online, then having comments come to them that are unwanted from unintended audiences. Also it could hurt the teen emotionally later or could cause harm to come to them when another teen wants to have sex after seeing the picture. The laws maybe a little stricter on what exactly teens or adults are able to post online. Adults may also see pictures or posts and try to have sex illegally; laws need to specify what is allowed online and who is allowed to view other profiles.
Chloe Brown
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
I think the laws regarding cyber safety don’t go too far as young people are concerned. They prevent you from being in dangerous situations and help you from being targeted by a stranger. Many teens are mature enough to understand the rules and don’t think they hold you back from doing anything. Teens know what’s acceptable and those who don’t know they have to follow the rules. The laws don’t affect the people who already to follow them and those who don’t are protected by the laws. I don’t think our laws need to be stricter because if they are then people won’t want to follow more laws that say things they do are illegal. The teen could willingly do something with an adult and get in more trouble for their actions even though they wanted to.
Madison Monroe
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
No I believe these laws against sexual relationships between minors and adults are understandable because it really is protecting our youth from getting hurt mentally and physically.
The laws against cyber bullying does not go too far in my opinion because words can hurt and cause people being bullied to be hurt emotionally and it can lead them to hurt themselves.I think the laws on cyber bullying are just enough punishment to teach cyberbullyers a lesson and to not ever do it again.
Haylee Glashauser
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the law to prevent the older men or women to have sex and/or sexual talk with teens. Its right to have feelings for someone, but you do not have to post pictures or comments about sex or sexual pictures or “sexy” talk. If they really loved you they wouldn’t want that they would want you to do the right things and if they don’t then they are not right for you. Also its right for the laws to be so strong about this issue because, when you get in trouble for sending these things your life is ruined, you will go to jail and he/she will go to jail to. Our laws need to be stronger on this because it is causing people to kill them self or get killed/hurt by others or themselves. These new laws should have a lot of cops to each place site and show people that what they are doing is not right and need to spot, by deactivating there account. But the law that is against it is a good thing.
Do you think that our laws regarding cyber safety go too far as young people are concerned? If so, how and what are your suggesting for changing the law.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that the laws of cyber safety go to far. A lot of people out there are getting hurt now and that isn’t good. The internet is only going to progress not get worse and more and more people will be using it. It enhances just about every day it gets larger and made into a bigger deal.
If you do not think the laws regarding cyber safety go too far explain why.
I think that the laws of cyber safety go far enough.
If you think our laws need to stricter explain why and how you see these news laws.
I think that maybe the laws can be kind of stricter but I think that they are just about good enough to be strict. I don’t relay think that they need to be MUCH stricter but just somewhat.
Morgan Futey
ReplyDeleteHour 3
10/26/11
No, I don’t think the law is going too far, I mean, it makes sense; the government is just trying to protect the adults of the next generation. I think this law is working quite well, and should stay the way it is now.
Grant Gose
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
No, I don’t think that our laws regarding young people and cyber safety go too far. I think that they are in a good position in their current state, however their need to be more covert scans of the web for people, places, or things, that pose a threat to young people that use the web; seeing how limiting their use of it would not help. For example, if someone my age who lived in [for example] let’s say Maryland, was posting obscene photos of themselves on Facebook, with little care to control their privacy settings and “friending” anyone who sent a request...they have no way to control whose eyes see those photos, there could be a fifty year old person who lives in Texas looking at that photo; and then, if he/she decides to take the “friendship” a step farther, he may come after the person who first posted the photos, and chances are the predator probably would not have to look far for the victim’s contact information because if they didn’t think twice about posting a photo, what makes you think they would about posting their address at 555 Main Street, in Baltimore. Now all they have to do is plug you address into a GPS, or Mapquest and they’re on their way.
Caleb Nash
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
Do you think that our laws regarding cyber safety go too far as far as young people are concerned? If so, how and what are your suggesting for changing the law.
No, the laws are perfectly fine as they are and shouldn’t be made more or less severe.
If you do not think the laws regarding cyber safety go too far explain why.
The laws cover any problems that could arise from sexual activity online and there’s no need for additional laws.
If you think our laws need to stricter explain why and how you see these news laws.
I don’t think the laws need to be stricter.
Gwen Knowles
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
I believe that our laws regarding cyber safety are not strict enough. Teens are still children therefore, they are still gullible. An adult can easily trick a teen to running away from home to meet them, or just to “see them.” Most teens also want to have attention drawn to them; at any cost. So posting a sexy picture or a sexual comment is frequent. Also I believe that the majority of teens have no idea the consequences of what they post. Most don’t think about the future and choose to live in the “now,” and “I’ll worry about it when I’m older.” We need to pass laws that social networking sites need to block certain comments and photos automatically, to prevent the teen from damaging there selves and reputation. Even though stricter laws and punishments are needed, I don’t believe teens should be denied of the internet. It’s also not entirely their fault; they are still children after all. Laws should also focus on how to control adults on the internet. A application that could be used is if an adult on Facebook has a suspicious with a lot of younger teens, they could be banned from the site. You should also have to provide a degree of personal information to prove your identity. That is how I feel on the matter of cyber safety.
Alicia Hammac
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
1. I do not think that the laws concerning cyber bullying are too harsh.
2. I think our laws need to be more strict because we see in the news that more kids are killing themselves because of cyber bullying. For the new laws, they should have harsher consequences, more jail time or something that gets it through a child and/or adult’s mind that bullying people over the Internet is not okay.
Derek Shepherd
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
I think laws regarding cyber safety for teens are at a reasonable spot. I believe most teenagers are responsible enough to have their own social networking account and be able to access the web at any time. I think some teens have to be informed about what is out there and how to avoid these risky problems. That is why I think many schools teach classes about cyber-bullying, sexting, etc. Adults want teenagers to have the ability to explore the web but, they want us to be safe and smart about what we’re doing as well. Teens can do so many cool things online and what adult would want to take that away from us? So, in conclusion I believe that the cyber safety law is not too strict, in fact I believe it is perfect just the way it is.
I dont think that the laws regaurding cyber safety go too far, because some people are still getting busted for having innapropriate pictures on social sites, and everyday people are charged for having relations with a minor. if anything, i would say to make them a little harsher, but most of the time when relations happen between an adult and a minor both are completely willing. its not that likely for a relationship between an adult and a teen to be forced in high school.
ReplyDeleteAshley Colston
ReplyDelete10-26-11
period.3
1. I do not think the law goes too far. I think that the teen could have more of a punishment because she was part of the situation too.
2. I think the law for cyber safety are fine if not maybe they could be improved a little.
3. i dont really think that the law should change but if they did i think that they could give the adult a bigger ounishment because they knew that it was against the law but they also need to know that the teen made the decision too so the kid should have to have some serious conversation about what he/she did wrong.
Katelyn Delaney-
ReplyDelete1. I don't think that the laws regarding cyber safety go too far because the laws that we have now protect a lot of teenagers from being in dangerous situations.
2. These laws help prevent teens from being physically and emotionally hurt from older people and doing serious harm to them because adults have more control over teenagers.
3. I don't think that the laws have to go any stricter than where they're at now.
Corey Rupert
ReplyDelete10/26/11
I think that the laws regarding sexual relations online between adults and minors are reputable. I believe that in order to have any safety online these laws need to be in place. Personally I feel that these laws are where they should be; I think that if parents want their teens to be able to use the Internet to learn and grow they need to be in effect. Our government should enforce these laws more because there are incidents that occur often. When it happens, it never turns out good, and the younger person always gets scarred in some way whether it’s physically or emotionally. Since, teens aren’t educated enough on this topic (we are educated about cyber-bullying, but I think that sexting laws need to be gone into with more depth) and they don’t fully understand it that they are more likely to disagree with the law and do what they want anyway. This is just one of the many things that we, as teens that we do; repulse in the presence of authority. This is what I think about the adult-minor relations and the laws on the topic of them.
Cara Stang
ReplyDeleteOctober 26, 2011
I do not think the laws regarding cyber safety go too far. In fact, they are just about right. It gives us some freedom, while also not letting us go too far. We should not be posting the wrong kind of pictures online. Even though we understand what we’re doing, other people that we don’t want to see them can still see them. It’s putting our bodies and our health at risk of being hurt. The law about not having sex with a minor is a good thing, because then the minor will be overpowered by the adult and that’s scary. Teen to teen sexual relations are another thing, but then there’s the fact of dealing with all of the consequences. We should have enough respect for ourselves to realize what is going too far. The laws are only trying to protect us, and I don’t think they go too far or they’re not strict enough. They’re just about right.
Cody Hedger
ReplyDeleteHour 3
October 26, 2011
I think that these laws over cyber safety don’t go too far because when teens post something on the internet, anybody can see it. And older people can be looking and saying inappropriate things to you. Also, people can leave mean comments that the person could feel bad about. When girls post a picture on the internet they may not know that they are talking to an older man and that guy can find her and kidnap her. If we didn’t have these laws, adult men would get away with doing illegal things with under ages girls.
Ricki Killinen
ReplyDeleteHour 3
October 26, 2011
I do not think that that cyber safety law is unfair. Teens need to have some sort of boundary to keep them from getting into trouble. Some teens are mature enough to understand what they are doing and what is acceptable online and what isn’t, there are many teens out there who will do anything just to get some attention and to look cool in front of their friends. I believe that the majority of teens have no idea the consequences of what they post. They don’t think before they post something. I don’t really think that the law should change but if they did I think that they should give the adult a bigger consequence. They knew that it was against the law. It is also the teen’s fault, so the kid should have to have some serious punishment about what they did wrong.
October 26, 2011
ReplyDeleteJaycie Swick
I think that the laws on cyberbullying and safety are fine, because I believe that if people are cyberbullying, then they should get in deep trouble for it. I don’t think they go too far because no one should have to feel bad about themselves because other kids decide to try and be cool, and funny, but those things can actually hurt, whether they’re said to your face or not. I think that if cyberbullying is really bad, and it causes suicidal thoughts, then the person cyberbullying should get in huge trouble, because they deserve it.