Justin Patchin

And that couldn't be further from the truth.

We need to accept the reality that teens are teens.

They're going to experiment with technology.

They're going to experiment with their sexuality.

They're going to explore their identity.

And we just want to make that as safe as possible.

Well, the big concern, and this is a growing issue, is...

When threats are made, the children, the young people who are threatened, they feel backed in a corner because they've been told now for years that they shouldn't share these images.

And so if they do, and somebody threatens them, threatens to call the police or share the images with their friends, they really feel like there's nothing they can do and there's no way out.

So we have seen some examples of young people ending their lives as a result of this.

And that's why it's super important

for parents to have conversations with their kids to express to them, look, I would prefer that you not do these things, but if you do, I'm always here for you.

We're always going to figure out a way around some of these problems.

Our concern is your safety.

So having that open line of communication between the parent and the child is hugely important.

Yes.

So our child pornography laws or sexting laws are very antiquated.

Not very many states actually have sexting laws.

So we need to recognize the variability in these behaviors and acknowledge consensual, somewhat safe sexting among romantic partners as sort of a separate thing to maybe deal with informally.

those instances where there is extortion or threats of harm or images are shared without the permission of somebody, we need to treat those more seriously.