Imagine a 14-year-old girl sending nude photos to her boyfriend on her cell phone. Or a 15-year-old boy sending his nude photos to a ‘girl’ he has met online. This can lead to a journey of sheer hell if these photos are circulated and may haunt them forever.

 I recently listened to one of the True Crime South Africa podcasts where Nicole Engelbrecht interviewed Colonel Kirsten Clark as their expert guest on the topic of Combating Digital Sex Crimes.

As a young man who considers myself a #GoodGuy, one of the most impactful things I walked away with from this podcast is that no matter how hard parents try, our children will be exposed to some nefarious activities over the internet. So perhaps the name of the game is prevention instead isolation. What I mean is that it may be more effective to instil a strong understanding of both the positives and negatives of the internet asjust because the coercion or solicitation of lewd imagery is non-physical and is under the guise of anonymity, the repercussions of digital child pornography can be dire to both the victims and their families. Identifying when an internet interaction has the potential to become perverse and dangerous is instrumental to our kids keeping themselves safe above all.

And to those young minds who may be pulled into these nefarious activities, please be aware of who you may be talking to as all may not be as it seems. At the end of the day, it is up to you to stay vigilant and cautious of internet relationships, especially when the conversations and interactions are inherently sexual. And never send a naked photo or video of yourself to anyone over the internet. Very often you do not know for sure who you are talking to. The young man in his teens who you are communicating with, could be a man in his 40s who is part of a syndicate selling porn. Or for that matter, don’t send it to a boyfriend over Whatsapp as he might send it to his friends or engage in ‘revenge porn’ if you break up. Once those images are out there, it is impossible to erase them. They can circulate forever.

Written by Daniel Seiti