Thousand Words

By: Jennifer Brown
Location: FIC BRO
Genre: Youth Fiction

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Snap Chat. I like snap chat- it keeps me in contact with my kids, my mates, and one little picture can say so much. Last weekend I went to  National Park- it is in the middle of the North Island, it was stunning, I went mountain biking and took a snap chat- sent it to a few people and without me saying anything- it said heaps.
It is just that so many people- and I guess most of all- teenagers- abuse it, they are naive as to its power and and other malicious characters who have no scruples in how they use inappropriate material.


 Thousand Words is somewhat of a modern cautionary tale. A timely and relevant topic of discussion - it is about sexting. Pictures do say a thousand words, sometimes the wrong ones.
Ashleigh has no idea of the consequences when she sends a picture of herself naked in a text to her boyfriend while she is in an intoxicated state. After a breakup, Kaleb sends the picture to some friends who send it to some more friends and soon not just some people know, but everyone knows. Ashleigh is ostracized, she loses her friends and she loses something in the eyes of her parents disappointment in her that she can never regain. Strangers she doesn't know call her names and feel they have the right to judge her and she is kicked off the track team. And then to top it all off, she is arrested for distributing child porn. With sending a picture naked of herself, something that countless other teens have done. 
It is a topic that our students should read about, before they too face the consequences of a quick stupid decision, they can have and does have enormous repercussions.