'Sexting': The Dangers

16 January 2014, 06:17 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Capital's told too many young people in the East Midlands aren't taking online safety seriously.

Notts County Council have told Capital more young people could get involved in 'sexting' as more mobile devices, like phones and tablets, were activated over Christmas.

Matt Rooney's part of a team at Nottinghamshire County Council which goes into schools to warn about online dangers like sexting:

'Loads of kids said we know how to be safe on the internet, we just choose not to' and that is really worrying.

'I can pretty much guarentee if you said to a 15 or 16-year-old in Nottinghamshire 'have you heard of sexting?' they would say yes.'

Last year, calls to Childline about 'sexting' increased by nearly thirty per-cent.

'Sexting' can leave you vulnerable to blackmail

The Dangers of Sexting
- Vulnerability to blackmail and harm: young people may think 'sexting' is harmless but it can leave them vulnerable to blackmail where someone may threaten to share the pictures with family and friends unless they send money or more images

- Bullying: if images are shared with their peers or in school, the child may be bullied.

- Unwanted attention: images posted online can attract the attention of sex offenders, who know how to search for, collect and modify images.

- Emotional distress: children can feel embarrassed and humiliated. If they are very distressed, this could lead to suicide or self-harm.