Most teens today are comfortable with documenting their lives online. Posting photos, updating their status messages, sharing rapid-fire texts, and being a click away from friends are the new normal for teens. But this "always on" culture also creates an environment where teens can make impulsive decisions that can come back to haunt them. One example of this has been in the news a lot lately: sexting. When people take and send sexually revealing pictures of themselves or send sexually explicit messages via text message, it's called "sexting. Kids "sext" to show off, to entice someone, to show interest in someone, or to prove commitment.

Our lives these days are intertwined with our digital devices, for good or for ill. That includes adolescent romantic and sexual relationships of all kinds — happy, tragic, mutual, one-sided, healthy, abusive. And experts say that rather than being shocked to find that kids are sexting, we should instead be talking about it from an early age, just as we should about other aspects of their developing sense of their sexual identities. Her advice to parents is to start talking about sexting — as with so many topics — younger than you think you need to. She suggested that for younger children, the conversations could be simple and could be put in the context of other absolute rules.

Today's teens are always connected. They live out their lives online and in the public eye. They share photos on Instagram, tweet live from concerts, and message their friends instead of calling. But sometimes teens don't make wise choices about what they're posting, sharing, or texting.