GASP! 80 Percent Of College Students Are Doing This Scary Thing

Is sexting still scandalous? I mean, people have practically been writing erotic messages to each other since the beginning of time. But even though the risks sometimes outweigh the benefits (just ask any celeb or politician), a lot of people are using it to get down and dirty.

In fact, a recent survey from the University of Rhode Island has found that nearly four out of five (or roughly 80 percent) students there have received R-rated messages on their phones.

How's that for a shocker?

Granted, most of these messages were from romantic partners, and not lewd politicians, but the fact remains that sexting is practically a rite of passage for young people now.

The overall point of the study was to "[examine] the impact of technology use on physical and mental health, as well as interpersonal relationships in college students." But the results brought forth other important issues.

Researchers found that more than half of the 204 students surveyed have received erotic images on their phones, while 60 percent of the group had sent sexy messages themselves.

What's more is that while around 73 percent of the messages ended up being sent to a partner, 10 percent of those messages didn't have consent from the person who had originally forwarded the message.

Wait, there's more.

If that weren't bad enough, around one in five students surveyed admitted to forwarding a message they received to another party without permission from the original sender. Um, I don't know about you but that seems like a MAJOR problem.

Also, because there are college students who are underage, the state is working on implementing laws that will make sexting a serious offense. The study mentions that "minors who create and send sexually explicit images of themselves [face being] charged with a "status offense" and referred to family court. Minors and adults who possess or forward sexual images of anyone younger than 18 [face being] charged under the state's child pornography laws."

But do you know what the most alarming thing about all of this is? The study's authors noted that many students don't even realize how easy it is to lose control over their photos and messages.

It goes without saying that if put in the wrong hands, your sexy photos could easily end up online. Is it really worth going through a lifetime of humiliation all for the sake of getting off?