Do you know anyone who has come to school naked? Probably not, but maybe you do know people at your school who have been seen naked because they’ve sexted—shared nude photos or videos of themselves via text or online. Many teens believe that the only person viewing the message is the person they send it to, however, with the click of a button, the sext can easily be shared with many others. Although it may seem harmless, there can be negative consequences for sexting. Who would want a college admissions officer or potential employer to make a decision about you after seeing your nude photo or video online? And even worse, who wants to have a criminal record for the possession or distribution of child porn just because you have a nude pic of your partner on your phone? (This has actually happened in several states.)

Once a sext is sent, there’s no way to take it back, and it is no longer private. Each year teens are fully exposed to their friends, classmates and lots of other people because of sexting. Think before sexting. More than a quarter of 14-to 24-year-olds have received naked photos or videos via text or online, according to an Associated Press-MTV poll. Is sexting really worth risking, not only being completely revealed, but a criminal record? Ponder this public service announcement and let us know what you think.

—Chelsea Sirico, 17, Staff Writer

It seems like every other day a new story about teens texting nude photos pops up in the news. This cultural phenomenon has been called “sexting,” and as many as 20 percent of teens say they have sent or posted nude or seminude pictures or videos of themselves, according to a recent survey.

It’s OK to be flirty and feel sexy, but sexting isn’t harmless fun. You have no control over what happens to those pics—or your reputation—when sexting. Here’s a list of five things to think about before you hit “send” from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmogirl.com:

• Don’t assume anything you send or post is going to remain private. Your messages and images could get passed around, even if you think they won’t.
• There is no changing your mind in cyberspace-anything you send or post will never truly go away. Even if you have second thoughts and delete a racy photo, there is no telling who has already copied that photo and posted it elsewhere.
• Don’t give in to the pressure to do something that makes you uncomfortable, even in cyberspace.
• Consider the recipient’s reaction. Just because a message is meant to be fun doesn’t mean the person who gets it will see it that way.
• Nothing is truly anonymous. Even if someone only knows you by your screen name, online profile, phone number or e-mail address, they can probably find you if they try hard enough.

These tips don’t just apply to texting; posting racy or nude pics to your MySpace profile can have negative consequences as well. Check out this public service announcement from the Ad Council, urging you to think before you post:

Two cheerleaders at Bothell High School, near Seattle, learned the hard way that sending nude pics of themselves via text message is a bad idea. School officials found out that students were forwarding the pics to each other, so they decided to suspend the cheerleaders from the squad. Now the cheerleaders’ parents are suing the school district, alleging that the school punished the girls too harshly and failed to find out who sent the pictures around in the first place. Check out the video for more on the story:

The cheerleaders who took pics of themselves got in trouble, but the people who spread the pics weren’t punished. That seems really unfair, because according to child pornography laws, it is a crime to possess and transmit nude photos of minors. That means you could get in big trouble, not only for taking nude pics, but also for sending them via text message.

It’s OK to want to feel sexy. But taking and sending nude pics is not the way to do it, especially if you’re 17 or under. Is it really worth the risk?