Yet again last week Dr. Phil had a show that addresses teen issues. This time it was “End the Silence on Domestic Violence: Teen Dating.” It was during this show that I heard a new phrase, “textual harassment.” I looked it up online and found it to be included in the Urban Dictionary. It simply means to harass someone through text messages.
It’s amazing how technology forces us to come up with new terminology. We are definitely living in different times than when I was a teenager.
Violence in teen dating is apparently not an uncommon occurrence. It used to be that domestic violence was something that took place in some marriages or between adult couples. But as teens pursue relationships they are becoming victims of it, too.
It is greatly concerning to me, as the mother of a 13-year-old daughter. Would she ever allow a male to treat her abusively? Keep in mind that abuse is not just physical. One of the teens on this show was also verbally and emotionally abused by her boyfriend. She not only put up with it but she couldn’t seem to let go of the fact that she still “loved” him.
How do you love someone who hurts you? I don’t understand it and perhaps it’s only because I have never dealt with it. Yet I want to ensure that my daughter never deals with it so we have been having some conversations about how a boy should treat a girl. She is no where near ready for dating but I want to instill this in her so when the time does come, she realizes that she doesn’t deserve abusive treatment.
Going back to the textual harassment, it is really just a form of bullying. Only it’s being done through a means of technology. It is an easy way for someone to harass someone else without showing face. It is very cowardly, too.
I can’t help but feel sorry for today’s teens. They have a lot to deal with and while so much of our technology has helped us to grow, it has also been detrimental in so many other ways.
Keep having conversations with your teen about these issues. Talk to your teenage boys about the proper way to treat a girl and talk to your teenage girls about how a boy should treat her. And now you have something else to talk about…textual harassment.