"If I don't send it, he'll leave me": The quiet test teenagers are passing under their parents' noses
A new Israeli study of 547 students reveals that about a quarter of them have sent sexual content, a third were asked to send a nude photo, and about half of the requests came from strangers. Prof. Michal Dolev-Cohen calls on parents to talk to their children about online privacy before they reach the moment of decision.
A new Israeli study by Prof. Michal Dolev-Cohen and Prof. Tzamaret Rikon, among 547 students in grades 7 to 12, reveals that about a quarter of participants have sent a message or image of a sexual nature. About a third of students reported being asked to send a nude photo, and about half of the requests came from strangers. The phenomenon is more common in high school than in middle school. Girls in the study described pressure to send photos out of fear that if they did not, their partner would leave them. Dolev-Cohen notes that even a normal photo edited with AI can cause social damage similar to the distribution of a real image. She calls on parents to talk to their children about privacy, boundaries, and responsibility online from a young age, before they reach the moment of decision.