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As The In-Box Churns

 O.K., here’s a new one that dropped into my seemingly bottomless in-box pit just now:

 As a consumer electronics-centered publication, it’s not often we get (or even want) to write about pediatric studies or teen sex, or more disturbingly both at the same time, but  apparently a study just published by the American Academy of Pediatrics has found no direct link between sexting among teenagers and risky sexual behavior.

 That’s a relief.

 What the study suggested was that “sexting is merely a sign of sexual development and, in some cases, sexual activity. In short, sexting has become the new normal.”

OK, you can relax now, Brett Favre.

Times have really changed. When I was a teen they were writing in “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask)” about milk bottles, vacuum cleaners and a large assortment of kitchen utensils as the new “abnormal.”

 I shutter (ahem) to think what today’s teenagers will do with their smart devices.

 “If sexting is the new normal, and teenagers communicate primarily via their phones, it stands to reason that sexting has become the new first date,” according to a statement from “relationship expert” and Your Tango CEO Andrea Miller.

 Wow, now that’s intimate.

 Miller continued: “Teenagers have always had a difficult time expressing themselves, which is why texting became popular in the first place. What concerns me is not that young adults are sexting, but that most of them are forgoing intimacy for the comfort of their smartphones, and that can have lasting implications on their relationships.”

 Amen.

 Miller also notes that the idea of exchanging sexual content isn’t necessarily a new one.

 “The idea of giving and taking in early sexual encounters is no different than the ‘show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ of their parents’ generation,” Miller said.

 Now that’s an image I’d rather not have in my head.

  “It’s just new that these encounters aren’t happening face-to-face anymore,” Miller continues. “What’s worrisome is not that teenagers are exploring their sexuality, but that they’re doing so over platforms that aren’t secure. This isn’t your parents’ basement anymore.”

 Well, let’s see, given that sexually transmitted diseases today can be fatal, the rate of teenage pregnancy remains an ever-present life-altering threat, and my parents’ basement smelled like 50 Shades Of Mildew, I’ll stick with the risk of my kid getting carpal tunnel syndrome or a screen grab on flickr before I yank the smartphone away.  

 Enough of that, what’s new in Ultra HDTV?

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