Bullying and sexting youth is American heritage of today

The Teen Online and Wireless Safety survey of 655 US teenagers aged 13 to 18 has revealed disturbing amounts of bullying going on via the mobile phone networks, despite the fact that most of them seem to understand the risks of sharing too much data online.

Cox communications in conjunction with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children carried out survey. Participants were asked a series of questions about their own involvement in sexually explicit messaging and cyber-bullying, as well as their attitudes towards the problems.

Almost a fifth of those sampled had either sent or received a message containing "a nude or nearly nude photograph", generally to girlfriends or boyfriends, while less than 10 per cent actually admitted initiating such messages - the rest received or forwarded messages. The most common reason given was for a laugh, though some claimed to be responding to requests from their other half.

Cyber-bullying is far more prevalent. It seems to carry a perceived lack of risk despite the fact that almost half of those who had been bullied on-line reported the miscreant getting caught. More cyber-specific is the clear superiority of girls involved in online bullying, with 59 % of bullies being female.

When it comes to controlling internet access it seems parents aren't equipped to manage their children`s behavior. So some other body should be prepared to step in and take control.

In addition, the report concludes that all the attention paid to sexting is distracting people from the more important issue of cyber-bullying.