Okay, so now that we’ve got your attention, here’s an interesting survey result discovered by MTV and the Associated Press. In a poll of young people between the ages of 14 and 24, around a third of young adults had admitted to “sexting” while a fourth of teenagers had done the same.

“Sexting,” for those who don’t know, is sharing naked pictures of yourself via photos, videos or chat using your cell phone or online. Usually these pictures are sent to a romantic interest.

In the same survey, half of those who knew about sexting weren’t bothered about the practice while the other half regarded it as a serious problem but did it anyway.

Meanwhile, 14 percent of people who had sent naked pictures to someone were suspicious these were later shared with others. Unfortunately, 17 percent of people who had received naked pictures of others had admitted to sharing them with others.

Of those who would forward these images, boys were more likely to do so than girls. Likewise, boys said they thought sexting was “hot” while girls mostly thought it was “slutty.” Of those surveyed, around 10 percent had admitted sending pictures of themselves.

Kathleen Bogle, a sociology professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia, said, “There’s definitely the invincibility factor that young people feel.”

“That’s part of the reason why they have a high rate of car accidents and things like that, is they think, ‘Oh, well, that will never happen to me’,” said Bogle, who is also the author of the book Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus.

What’s more problematic about this practice is the fact that in some parts of the US—like Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania—sending nude pictures is considered a felony charge.

There is also the social aspect of the practice: a teenage girl in Cincinnati and another one in Florida committed suicide when their pictures were forwarded to other people from the phones of boys they were interested in.

Bogle stated that teenagers and young adults don’t think that what they’re doing is serious—nor the consequences down the road about their actions. As 25-year old Thelma of Louisana states, “It’s just when you’re talking to a guy who’s interested in you, and you might have a sexual relationship, so they just want to see you naked.”

“But with my current boyfriend, I did it on my own; he didn’t ask me,” she pointed out.

Using online interviews, Knowledge Networks conducted the AP-MTV poll on September 11-22 with 1,247 teenagers and adults. The survey—which is part of MTV’s campaign against digital abuse—has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. (Joseph N)

Sources: Gizmodo, IntoMobile, AP in Cellular News