Online Protection Measures to Prevent Sexting Among Minors

Introduction

In the digital contemporary era, the practice of sexting among minors has emerged as a phenomenon of intrinsic complexity, posing substantial challenges to the safety and well-being of the youth population. In recent years, a significant increase in the popularity of social networking sites has been witnessed, attracting an extraordinary number of users, especially among the teenage demographic. Current data supports this trend. According to recent research from the EU Kids Online study, in Europe, approximately 85% of young people aged 13 to 16 are actively engaged on some social networking site (Smahel et al., 2020). Despite most of these sites setting a minimum age of 13 for creating a profile, it is noteworthy that a considerable percentage of younger children are also present on these platforms.

Although social media has attracted people of various ages in Spain, it is noteworthy that the younger generations were the most active in this realm. This fact is supported by statistics indicating that nearly 93% of the Spanish population between 16 and 24 years old were present on some social network. Similarly, the second age group with a high number of users was the 25 to 34 age range, with over 80%. Spaniards' interest in platforms like Instagram and Twitter diminishes as age increases. In this regard, around 45.1% of individuals aged 55 to 64 participated in social networks, while only around 30% of those aged 65 to 74 ventured to do so (Mena, 2022). Furthermore, research in social sciences suggests that smartphones with social media capabilities continue to be popular among young people, playing a central role in their relationships and shaping various aspects of their daily lives (Harari et al., 2020).

Ninety-five percent of Generation Z owns a smartphone, according to the Center for Generational Kinetics (GenHQ, 2018). In Spain, almost 90% of teenagers aged 14 to 16 have a smartphone, according to research on ICT and its impact on adolescent socialization. More than 50% of these young people use it for five hours or more daily. One in four even uses it for ten hours (Vannucci et al., 2019). Generation Z, also known as Gen Z, refers to individuals born roughly between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s. They are characterized by their digital nativity, having grown up in a world where technology, particularly smartphones and social media, is ubiquitous. Gen Z is known for being tech-savvy, adaptable to digital tools, and highly connected online. They are considered the first truly digital-native generation, shaping and being shaped by the digital landscape in profound ways.

The rapid evolution of information technologies has immersed minors in a digital environment where privacy and vulnerability coexist intrinsically (Vickery, 2017). The popularity of social media lies in the opportunity to receive, create, and share public messages at a low cost (Farsi, 2021). In this context, the implementation of online protection measures becomes imperative to counteract the inherent risks associated with the exchange of sexually explicit content. It is considered relevant to critically examine the effectiveness of such measures, unraveling their scope, limitations, and, fundamentally, their ability to address the psychosocial complexities linked to youth sexting (Raza et al., 2020).

This chapter aims to address youth sexting with the following objectives: comprehending and tackling the phenomenon of sexting among minors; identifying key risk factors leading to sexting; and determining national and international proposals to mitigate the negative effects of sexting.