Believe it or not, there was a time – only a decade ago – when Facebook and Twitter did not exist and mobile phones were owned primarily by adults. Today’s teenagers are now being called the “mobile generation,” with 75% owning a mobile phone – 84% of whom sleep with it turned on by their bed. But what’s that got to do with sexual health?
With all this new technology has come a constant barrage of sexual imagery. Your teenager’s sexual wellness, and overall wellbeing, is being shaped by advertising, prime time television and all forms of popular media, creating new obstacles to “the talk” that weren’t there just a decade ago. As a result, parents, teachers and members of the community need to come together to work with today’s young people and understand the world our teens are facing. Research shows that teens who report having open conversations with their parents about sex are more likely to delay sex, have fewer partners and use condoms and other birth control methods when they do have sex.
Because of this, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains’ Responsible Sex Education Institute, in partnership with the Healthy Colorado Youth Alliance, hosted a panel discussion entitled Sexual Health in the Digital Age at the Denver School of Science and Technology last year. Perhaps it wasn’t the pithiest of titles, but, in 2011 alone, the Responsible Sex Education Institute presented over 1,000 educational presentations to almost 18,000 participants – they must be doing something right!
Made up of experts from throughout the community, the panel met to speak to the obstacles and opportunities presented by technology, and how that technology can be used to advance sexual health, address teen pregnancy rates and in turn address high school graduation rates in US communities. With an estimated 750,000 American teens (15-19) becoming pregnant each year, the United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy among comparable countries, and the statistics pertaining to STDs are just as alarming. One in two sexually active young people contract an STD before the age of 25, but as we’re hardly producing monks and nuns back in Blighty, is there something we can learn from Colorado’s initiative?
Why Should You Talk Openly About Sex with Your Teenager?
