Watch out for if your kids are busy 'Sexting' as this is now the biggest worry for parents the world over.
And this is despite the fact the teens being aware of the potential risks of 'Sexting' but they just don't stop producing and distributing nude or semi-nude pictures to their peers, warns a study.
"We felt that a possible explanation for the fact that teenagers engage in 'Sexting' practices despite the obvious risks, could lie in the role of powerful peer group dynamics such as peer pressure and popularity," explained Vanden Abeele, one of the researchers.
The teenagers' mobile porn use received little attention from both scholars and public opinion leaders while current research suggests that this behaviour is fairly prevalent among teens, Abeele added.
There have been growing concerns about adolescents producing, consuming and distributing sexual materials with mobile phone communication.
The research shows that there is pressure to participate in 'Sexting' and mobile porn use in order to achieve peer acceptance.
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The researchers examined four key aspects associated with 'Sexting' and mobile porn use - same-sex popularity, other-sex popularity, perceived peer pressure and need for popularity - among teenagers aged 11-20.
"For boys, 'Sexting' was associated with higher (self-perceived) popularity among both boys and girls, while girls who reported having sent a 'Sext' indicated perceiving themselves as more popular among boys, but less popular among girls," noted Abeele.
The results, published in the journal Media Psychology, suggest that, in the eyes of teenagers, 'Sexting' and mobile porn use do bring short-term benefits in terms of enhancing popularity in peer group.