Teen sexuality online & off

Katie Couric and her producers at NBC did parents a service in airing NBC's hour-long special on teen sexuality last night - by fueling the public discussion about this vital part of parenting. The subject is directly linked to young people's online activities - what they talk about and how they behave in their instant messaging, blogs, and phone text messages. The special, with a follow-up this morning on "Today," was based on two complementary pieces of research: a landmark national survey (commissioned by NBC and People magazine) of young teens and their parents and a weekend-long "open forum that Couric conducted with 11 girls and nine boys, ages 13 to 16 [and their parents], in Key Biscayne, Fla.," as described by the Associated Press. The show featured insightful comments on teenagers' experience with sex from the teenagers themselves, their parents, pediatrician/author Meg Meeker, and psychologist/author Neil Bernstein. It picked up on recent reports in the media about "hooking up" and "friends with benefits" (casual sex among young people), as well as views and behaviors on abstinence, oral sex, dating, etc. Just a few important points I picked up on were kids themselves saying that the sexualization of society pressures them to grow up faster than they're ready to; the growing problem (Dr. Meeker used the word "epidemic") of sexually transmitted diseases; and teens' lack of understanding of the connection between sexual intimacy and emotional development (also brought out in a New York Times article last summer - see "Friends with benefits"). For the numbers (e.g., 27% of 13-to-16-year-olds "sexually active," but 87% have not had sexual intercourse), here's NBC's report on the survey.