AP Photo

In 2009, the Pew Center for Internet and American Life published survey findings that 4 percent of adolescents 12 to 17 years old had sent  “sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images or videos” of themselves to someone else via text message.

That sparked a “sexting” panic over the unsettling implications of young people engaging in this type of illicit interaction, as well as legal issues involving the cell phone-transmitted photos that could be deemed child pornography.