When I was 13, I talked on the phone a lot. There were long, breathless chats with my besties and awkward, hormone-fuelled chats with boys. I?d have to dial the wall-mounted rotary phone in my kitchen, then have a polite conversation with my friend?s mom or dad before the phone was passed to my pal so we could chat about school, the weekend and friend drama.
Most of today?s teens are chatting about the same things with the same people, but their conversations aren?t confined to the kitchen, and they don?t actually have to talk. By grade 7, more than half of students have their own device, which they use for emoji-filled texting. During adolescence, they experience a lot of social and sexual development, and sometimes text messages cross over into sexting. Sexting is sending, receiving or forwarding sexually explicit messages or images; it can be flirtatious and welcome?and in that context, it can be a healthy thing to do. Using thumbs to type out a sexy phrase can be a form of safe sex?no one will become pregnant or contract an STI.
.related-article-block{display:inline-block;width:300px;padding:.5rem;margin-left:.5rem;float:right;border:1px solid #ccc}@media (max-width: 525px){.related-article-block{float:none;display:block;width:280px;margin:0 auto 2rem}}

Age-by-age guide to talking to kids about sex
But this era of selfies, Snapchat and Insta stories has stretched our concept of privacy. For tweens and teens, digital exposure is almost a part of their DNA....