As a result of the Internet and image-sharing technologies available on cell phones, teens’ exposure to and potential engagement in dangerous behavior has expanded exponentially. While online networks and social media provide many social and educational benefits, there is also a flood of content, images, and messages that are not “age, stage, or developmentally” appropriate or healthy, particularly without adults to provide a context or counter message.¹

• Eighty-two percent of all social-networking teens say they use the sites to stay in touch with friends they rarely see in person and almost half (49%) use the sites to make new friends.2 On average, teens have 75 people they consider to be “friends,” referring specifically to the number of people on their online profile or social networking site.3
• The Internet is a source of information, but also facilitates meeting potential partners; one third of teens claim to have met someone online with whom they ended up having intimate relations.4
• Even the youngest kids have access to dangerous online content. The top online video destination for 2- to 11-year-olds (by audience size) is YouTube.com, followed by DisneyChannel.com.5
• Many of the teens who post messages about drugs or alcohol often trade unreliable information about illicit substances or post stories about themselves or friends getting high or wasted.6
• The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old.7 Eighty percent of 15- to 17-year-olds have been exposed to hardcore porn multiples times.8
• Teen boys report that pornography, particularly Internet porn, is a significant source for sex education and information. And many girls say they worry about the way they look because of the standards set by porn.9
• More than one in eight (13%) teens say that someone has spread a rumor about them online. Nine percent of teens who use social networking sites say someone has posted an embarrassing picture of them online without their permission.10
• Overall, nearly one in five teens (19%) report they have been harassed or bullied online. Girls are more likely to be harassed or bullied online than boys (21% vs. 17%).11
• There are more than 400 message boards connecting self-injurious adolescents. The majority of the postings about cutting are from girls between the ages of 12 and 20.12Message boards may expose vulnerable youths to a subculture that normalizes and encourages self-injury behavior.13
• Thirty-six percent of eating disorder patients had visited pro-anorexia Web sites, and 96 percent of them learned new weight loss or purging methods from such sites.14
• In an analysis of the most popular songs of 2005, according to Billboard magazine, 42 percent of songs had a substance use reference of any kind (explicit, figurative, or place).15 The Billboard results suggest that the average adolescent is exposed to approximately 84 references to explicit substance use per day, 591 references per week, or 30,732 references per year.16
• Nearly a third (28%) of online discussions about drugs and alcohol among teens in blogs, public chat rooms, message boards, and other online venues that mention marijuana also discuss other destructive behaviors, such as drinking, smoking cigarettes, and cutting (self-mutilation).17
• In a survey of adolescents who had used the Internet to learn about psychoactive substances, 100 percent reported that Internet-based information had affected the ways in which they has used psychoactive substances.18

1 Walsh, Dr. David. “Why Do They Act That Way?” New York: Free Press, 2004.; Strasburger, Dr. Victor
C, “Risky Business: What Primary Care Practitioners Need to Know about the Influence of the Media on
Adolescents.” June 2006. Adolescent Medicine, 33(2):317-348. http:www. Sciencedirect.com/science; as
cited by Counter the Trends of Normalization of Sexual Harm- A Key Component of Preventing Child
Sexual Exploitation Webinar, Cordelia Anderson & Sharon Cooper, NCMEC, May 2006. URL:

http://www.cordeliaanderson.com/cordeliaanderson.com_files/Page1057.htm

2 Social Networking Web Sites and Teens: an Overview.” Pew Internet & American Life Project. Jan. 3,
2007. Page 2. URL: http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/pip_sns_data_memo_jan_2007.pdf
3 “Friendships in the Age of Social Networking Websites.” Harris Interactive Poll. Pages 3-4.

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters/k12news/HI_TrendsTudes_2006_v05_i09.pdf

4 Subramanyam, Radha. “Contemporary Teen Sexual Culture.” The N. 2005. Slides 12, 44..
5 “The Video Generation: Kids and Teens Consuming More Online Video Content Than Adults at Home.”
VideoCensus. The Nielsen Company. June 9, 2008. URL: http://www.nielsennetratings.
com/pr/pr_080609.pdf
6 “A Qualitative Study of Online Discussions About Teen Alcohol & Drug Use: A Word-of-Mouth Audit.”
Nielsen BuzzMetrics & Caron Treatment Centers. April, 20, 2007. Pages 8, 20. URL:

http://www.caron.org/userfiles/File/BuzzMetrics_Report.pdf

7 Internet-Filter-Review.com, 2006. Internet Pornography Statistics. URL: http://internet-filterreview.
toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html#anchor2
8 Ibid.
9 Subramanyam, Radha. “Contemporary Teen Sexual Culture.” The N. 2005. Slide 11.
10 “Cyberbullying and Online Teens.” Pew Internet &American Life Project: Data Memo, published June
27, 2007. Page 3. URL: http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP%20Cyberbullying%20Memo.pdf
11 Cox Communications Teen Internet Safety Survey, March 2007. URL:
http://www.cox.com/TakeCharge/includes/docs/survey_results_2007.ppt#271,1,Slide 1
12 Whitlock, J.L., Powers, J.P., Eckenrode, J.E (2006). ”The virtual cutting edge: Adolescent self-injury and
the Internet.” Special Issue on Children, Adolescents and the Internet, Developmental Psychology. 42(3):
407-417. URL: http://www.crpsib.com/documents/Dev%20Psych%20Dis.pdf
13 Ibid.
14 Wilson, J. L. (2006). “Surfing for thinness: A pilot study of pro-eating disorder web site usage in
adolescents with eating disorders”. Pediatrics 118 (6): 1635–43. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-1133. URL:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/118/6/e1635

15 Brian A. Primack, EdM, MD; Madeline A. Dalton, PhD; Mary V. Carroll, BA; Aaron A. Agarwal, BS;
Michael J. Fine, MSC, MD. Arch Pediatr Adoesc . “Content Analysis of Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other
Drugs in Popular Music.” Med. 2008; 162 (2). Pages 169-175. URL: http://archpedi.amaassn.
org/cgi/content/abstract/162/2/169
16 Ibid.
17 “A Qualitative Study of Online Discussions About Teen Alcohol & Drug Use: A Word-of-Mouth Audit.”
Nielsen BuzzMetrics & Caron Treatment Centers. April, 20, 2007. Page 13. URL:

http://www.caron.org/userfiles/File/BuzzMetrics_Report.pdf

18 “The Internet and Psychoactive Substance Use Among Innovative Drug Users.” Pediatrics Vol. 115. No.
2 Feb 2005. Page 302-305. URL: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/115/2/302