By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

The Internet and television promote equality in access to information. This unfiltered access creates side-effects such as children's exposure to sex and violence. Now, mobile phones are a key tool that helps transcend all barriers separating children from adult content.

This is also reflected in the prevalence of so-called "sexting," among young students.

About one out of every five teenagers here have sent lewd text messages, photos or video clips via mobile phones to others, a survey showed.

However, those who model for such pictures distributed to others can suffer from bullying and other mental violence, the Korean Institute of Criminology (KIC) warned Sunday, calling for regulations.

Following research on 1,612 middle and high school students nationwide, 323 respondents, accounting for 20 percent of the total, have engaged sexting, a combination of sex and texting.

About 21.9 percent had taken nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves or their peers, while 2.8 percent recorded themselves or their friends' masturbating or having sex. About 5.2 percent had sent sexually explicit text messages or emails.

Many of them said it was just for fun or out of curiosity but about 17 percent said sexting could be a way to flirt with their love interests in the online world.

The majority of those who haven't yet "sexted" thought the trend was "disgusting" but about a quarter of the respondents didn't mind or even considered it a "brave action."

The institute said those whose risque pictures were leaked to others could receive a negative response from their peers which could lead to bullying or other forms of violence. Furthermore, if such contents were the result of force by others, it could pose stress to the victims, it said.

Western countries detected the sexting craze earlier and have taken measures against its side effects.

According to the survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 20 percent of 1,280 teenagers surveyed in U.S. have sexted while 48 percent have received sexually suggestive messages. Slightly less than half said such messages were shared with people other than the intended recipients.

The Times newspaper reported that high schoolers were losing jobs or college scholarships as a result of being identified in such pictures that appeared on the Internet. Civic groups warned that they were often bullied, which could have triggered suicides.

Some teens in the U.S. faced the possibility of prosecution last year due to manufacturing, disseminating and possessing racy texts or emails, and the authorities have advised parents to monitor their children's moves via mobile phones.

"Sexting should be considered as child pornography, which is a serious crime. The government should institute proper regulations against it," the KIC said.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr