Where are you at this exact moment?
Chilling with friends, working in office, attending a lecture or driving around in the city? Wherever you are, put aside your phone for a second and look around. What do you see? Do you see all kinds of faces, some random and some not so much, glued to their mobile phones just like you were about 5 seconds ago?
What do you think those people are doing? Reading the news? Liking Instagram posts? Or, maybe downloading the updated version of ScoopWhoop's awesome new app? Certainly, yes.
But many of those faces would be busy sharing words, pictures and videos meant to sexually excite their significant other(s). Sexting is the word. You've heard of it, right?
When did we start sexting?
Frankly, sending racy texts has been on for a while now. Back in the good-old days of Nokia, we were sexting, only that we didn't really know there was a word for it. But then, the word itself came into being around 2012 so that explains why were doing what we were doing without really knowing it all.
But ever since technology-almighty blessed us with the revered smartphones and everything from ordering food to ordering an orgasm was only an app away, sexting really became the thing-to-do of modern times!
BBM, WhatsApp, iMessages, it all went from BlackBerry to Apple with the proverbial fruit only getting saucier with every passing orgasm!
What started with simple 'what are you wearing' queries has now become about sharing shadily-lit body parts and some quick action is just a Snapchat away.
But why do we sext, right? I mean, isn't the actually act a lot more fun?
Well, for starters, how many of us are actually indulging in the actual act? Between hectic schedules and even more hectic timelines, there's barely any time to get a workout let alone some work-in. Why has our collective appetite for porn rapidly increased? Because we're a nation that's only trying to get some and not getting any.
Besides, sexting is so damn convenient. You can do it anytime, anywhere. In a meeting. In a class. At a party. On a holiday. The possibilities are truly endless!
It's also about delayed gratification. The build-up to something really good. Why just get into it directly, right? Why just meet and do it when you can talk about it through the day, share saucy pictures, tell each other what you'd like to do, get each other all hot and wild and then, at the end of the day, get down to finally doing it? It's a tease and so much more fun!
There are also those unfortunate, long-distance lovers. Those who have to make do with images, texts and Skype sessions for months on end before they actually get to touch someone other than their own selves.
Basically, sexting solves many purposes. Whatever may be your reason, trust a racy text to take care of things.
But amidst all those bathroom selfies and organ-showing Snapchat conversations, do we ever sit and think that we might be partaking in something that's potentially dangerous?
While it's tough enough to deal with a loser ex-lover, just imagine the problems of a lover gone rogue. He's nothing short of a potential threat, waiting to explode anytime, anywhere, anyhow.
On a night of passion, you chose to click a shot showing a little more than you'd otherwise show and Snapchat it to lover in another land. He takes a screenshot and saves it for orgasms to come. But somewhere along the way, when you bust his hard, erm, heart, he's still got something that'll put your reputation at serious stake.
Why just men, actually? A woman could just save her man's dick-pic or something on those lines and use it for later purposes.
Think about it - in an age when even Snapchat isn't free some screen-shot savers thanks to many apps that aid that process, are your selfies only meant for instant and urgent gratification?
Revenge porn, anyone?
Technology may have made life easier but it's also opened up enough and more potholes that are threatening all that we hold dear.
The number of cyber crimes coming up everyday is appalling and no matter how hard we try, we can't ever fully escape it. It isn't about just trusting your partner; it's about putting yourself in a vulnerable position even if it isn't an immediate or probable one.
How can we be completely sure that no matter how good a person, our ex would never, ever use our intimate photographs or videos to take revenge against us? Or, can we really be sure?