Humans have always found ways to communicate. Be it through saucy letters or lewd paintings, we have always had a way to express our lust and desires for someone. Sexting then is our generation's twist on the ‘racy’ love letters of the nineteenth and twentieth century. In fact Irish teenagers are some of the most prolific sexters in Europe with 1 in 4 claiming to have sent some kind of sext.

The growth in the popularity of sexting can be partly attributed to the boom of new social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Tinder and Snapchat. Photo-sharing has never been easier and quicker in our day to day lives, so naturally it will feed into the world of the sexual. The digital revolution also comes at a time of tentative liberalisation of Irish society when it comes to talking about sex.

I’ve had my own experiences, both good and bad with sexting. As a result of this, I’m in two minds about sexting. As a 15-year-old with low esteem, I think the sexting that I engaged in with a boy I liked in school did do a lot of emotional damage, especially when other people in my year found out about it. This was before the invention of Snapchat and many years before I ever heard the term “revenge porn”.

That being said, I’ve also had some good experiences with sexting. When you’re on Erasmus and you leave your partner behind, it can difficult to be apart for so long. In that regard I think sexting is good because it can make your partner seem that much closer. It can also backfire spectacularly. You can build up the encounter so much via sexting that when it comes down to it, it could never live up to what the sexting promised.

Bearing my own experiences in mind, I wanted to explore the good and bad aspects of sexting. I wanted to see if sexting has changed the way we talk to people we’re interested in. I interviewed four students via a questionnaire about their experiences with sexting and got their opinions on the impacts it had on society. The results were pretty interesting and varied. Each person was asked several questions varying from their favoured platform to sext on, who they prefer to sext with and whether we should be talking about sexting more in schools.

So let’s get down to it shall we?

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