Problem - Solution Essay Outline

Thesis statement - 

Because of unmonitored usage of social media which has normalized the sharing of explicit photos and sexual texts among preteens of the U.S, the government should use the same social media to reverse the culture.

Supporting Details

1)      Children aren’t monitored on social media

-          Most of the Parents think social media is safe (79 percnet). They are complacent, thinking that they have taken all necessary steps to protect their child in the other world- internet and social media.

-          Parents do not know where all their children have accounts.

-          Parents complain that they do not have time to keep up with their tech savvy child. 

-          Children move out of sites where parents can track their activities, e.g, Facebook

-          It’s easily accessible, as though there are no age limits for many sites. Even if there is one, preteens have an option to create fake accounts.

-          Supporting details to (1)

o   Fast growing technology makes it hard for parents to track on their children’s social life. 

o   Rise of Anonymous apps – Not all parents know about them.

o   Apps like Snapchat, children think it’s safe and private.

o   If the government or school or parents do not allow their child to use one site or app, the kids use another.

2)      Reasons for the preteens to get  involved in sexting

-          Their age and their developing brain

o   Rely more on their friends who themselves are not yet developed to think what is it right or wrong.

o   Drive to try new things.

o   Peer pressure – Children have built up their confidence with their identity on social media. They compare that with that of their friends. Hence, children go to the extreme of taking nude selfies and send that to their friends to get compliments

o   the urge to impress friends or boy/girlfriends – As after all their children and all they want is acceptance in the society, they don’t want to be left out

o   Wants fast rewards.

o   Boys – for fun, Girls – want to be liked, to look sexy and provocative. 

-          Early and not guided exposure to sexual issues.

o    Light sexual remarks and  teasing  are part of a child's development as they figure out who they are and how they will present themselves to others. It takes some time to decide what is wrong and right. They need guidance.

o   Children are scared to do face to face sexually but their zest lures them to perform it in the virtual world.

3)      How and why is it Normalized?

-          Carried away by the fact that others are doing so am I.

-          Received one such texts or pictures.

-          Many does not know it is wrong and now against the law.

4)      Steps taken ad their drawbacks inside the parenthesis

-          Laws enforced – Imprisonment if child pornographic pictures held, sent or received. (but punishments depends on the age, a child can’t be punished harshly ). 

-          Ohio crafted an unorthodox sentence to help a group of minors understand the harm of distributing nude photos of themselves.

-          Parents are to talk about this matter and its long-lasting side-effects. ( As mentioned earlier, preteens start to rely more on their peers on evidences in the outside world)

-          Main issue: Children are not aware of the legal consequence of this action. And they do not know how sexts, their explicit photo can haunt them in the future.

5)      Suggested measures

-          Government should create awareness by enforcing all schools to discuss this issue in class.

-          The Government must create a committee which should create awareness among children as well as their parents through social media.

o   Keep parents informed about the latest and popular social networking sites and Apps.

o   Just like in Singapore where cigarette packets carry gruesome images that depicts the side effects of smoking, the committee should pose messages or images that boycotts “sexting” at possible networking sites and apps. Whenever, kids open their accounts they should be able to see such messages.