Czech teens’ experiences with sexting
on Instagram

The text focuses on dangerous phenomena in communication via online platforms. It defines the key terms for this area and informs about the selected research conducted in the Czech Republic. In our own research, we focused on the issue of teenage sexting on a specific communication platform - Instagram. This platform is very popular among Czech teenagers, as it is worldwide. The platform very often ranks among the top 3 most popular platforms, it allows sending and sharing both text and graphic messages - pictures, gifs and video sequences. In 2021, we conducted an online research survey among nearly 3,500 respondents aged 15 - 20. We were interested in whether and to what extent the respondents have experienced sexting, what is the ratio of male to female recipients of sexting or sexual content, who is the most frequent sender of sexting content etc. We were also interested in the topic of safety in social networks. The results of the survey then show a greater need to promote information literacy, computational thinking and safe behaviour on social networks as well as safe use of ICT

social networks, sexting, on-line communication, risky behaviour, computational thinking

1. Kwon, SJ., Telzer, E.H. Social contextual risk taking in adolescence. Nat Rev Psychol 1, 393–406 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159- 022-00060-0

2. Van Ouytsel, Joris & Walrave, Michel & Ojeda, Monica & Del Rey, ´ Rosario & Ponnet, Koen. (2020). Adolescents’ Sexy Self-Presentation on Instagram: An Investigation of Their Posting Behavior Using a Prototype Willingness Model Perspective. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17. 1-15. 10.3390/ijerph17218106.

3. Gamez-Guadix, M., Borrajo, E., Almendros, C. (2016). Risky online ´ behaviors among adolescents: Longitudinal relations among problematic Internet use, cyberbullying perpetration, and meeting strangers online. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. 5. 100-107. 10.1556/2006.5.2016.013.

4. Pew Research Center, April 2021, ”Social Media Use in 2021”

5. Dodaj, A., Prijatelj, K., Sesar, K. (2022) A review of mixed methods research on sexting. Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology 10(3). https://doi.org/10.13129/2282-1619/mjcp-3551

6. Sevčıkova, A., Blinka, L., & Daneback, K. (2018) Sexting as a ´ predictor of sexual behavior in a sample of Czech adolescents, European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 15:4, 426-437, DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2017.1295842.

7. Wing, Jeannette. (2006). Computational Thinking. Communications of the ACM. 49. 33-35. 10.1145/1118178.1118215.

8. Bryndova, Lucie. (2021). Trends in assesing the students’ level ´ of the computational thinking. Trends in Education. 14. 13-20. 10.5507/tvv.2021.001.

9. Fox J., Rooney M. C. The Dark Triad and trait self-objectification as predictors of men’s use and self-presentation behaviors on social networking sites. Personality and Individual Differences. Volume 76, 2015, Pages 161-165, ISSN 0191-8869. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2014.12.017.

10. Fox J., Moreland J. J. The dark side of social networking sites: An exploration of the relational and psychological stressors associated with Facebook use and affordances. Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 45, 2018, Pages 168-176, ISSN 0747-5632.

...