May 20, 2009
When Amanda Beck wanted to show off her delicious Mexican meal last month – the No. 5 lunch special, which includes a burrito, taco and refried beans – the Henrico County teenager thought nothing of sending a photo of the hot plate to a friend.
But then her friend passed the photo of the meal to another friend. Who passed it to another.
And then to another.
“I was horrified,” said the 17-year-old Beck, who suddenly realized that by the noon the next day, many students at her high school had seen photos of her steaming entree. “I never thought those photos would get around so fast in the way that they did.”
But Beck is not alone in her personal tribulations. Local school officials said they are concerned with a growing and disturbing trend among students who are using cell phones to send explicit picture-text messages of their Mexican food to others in an act known as Mexting. The problem, school officials say, is that the photos are sometimes passed to more than their intended recipient, creating what can quickly become an embarrassing situation for someone who was only trying to share their sauce and spice-heavy meal with another person in private.
“Just like in real life, people get excited over the sight of Mexican food, and technology is advancing that. It’s our human nature to see these images of such foods and get a deep Mexican craving,” said Allison Cubitt, a guidance counselor at Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond.
“What these teens don’t realize is that there can be serious consequences when they send pictures of their tacos or enchiladas to others,” she added.
Exactly how prevalent Mexting has become is difficult to determine, since there is little research on the subject. But empirical evidence has led Richmond psychologist P. Bill Fasullio to believe that it’s not just teens who are Mexting – he believes one in three under age 18 has done so – and that adults are getting in on the titillating act, too.
“In fact, I just did,” the 62-year-old said, finishing up a forearm-sized burrito, but not before sending images of it to his wife, children, and mistress via his BlackBerry.
Officials said that if the Mexting trend keeps up, it could one day lead to people sending photos of their muscles, or flexting; sneezing, or Kleenexting; or sending nude or semi-nude photos of themselves to others, a trend that has yet to be named.
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great stuff, especially after reading the sunday paper
So sending your friend a picture of your hot, steaming, taco is a bad thing? Now, I could see where you wouldn’t want just anyone seeing your meat exposed or if you snapped a picture and didn’t realize you still had some sauce on your chin, but really people. This whole mexting thing has been blown way out of proportion.
Kids these days.
Picard, My daughter recieved a picture of a burrito the other night! I was shocked. It was Beans, no meat.
I can’t believe what trends are getting popular these days! High school students are just pushing the bounds of society more and more, eh?
[...] have no expectation of privacy on the internet. Use your company email or cell to mext each other naughty bits. Whatever your employee handbook says about personal use of company [...]
[...] out it was created by an Onion-style, faux news site in Richmond, Virginia of all places, called Tobacco Avenue. Though the concept is cleary satire: Heading to Qdoba today if anyone is looking for a hot, saucy [...]
Really people? It’s FOOD. Does it have to made into such an issue? Is it because some people can’t keep their mind out of the gutter and make everything about sex/nudity/etc.? That there was even time and energy spent on writing and article about this blows my mind.