:} text 2day, online 4ever :{; Do you know if your teen is `sexting' tonight?

Byline: Scott J. Croteau

First it was notes passed in class. Then it transformed into instant messaging over the computer.

Now, with more teens and young adults carrying cell phones or hand-held devices, it has morphed into text messaging.

But many of those messages have become much more than just quick hellos. An alarming trend is becoming prevalent. It is called "sexting," a play on the words sex and text messaging. It is what it implies: sending flirtatious or sexual messages via cell phone, BlackBerry or other device.

And sometimes it is more than messages, as law enforcement agencies across the country find themselves investigating dissemination of sexually explicit photos sent over hand-held devices, that in some cases are pictures of minors.

A survey released late last year, commissioned by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com, asked 1,280 people 13 to 26 about their messaging activities. The survey said 39 percent of all teens (13 to 19) and 59 percent of young adults (20 to 26) sent or posted sexually suggestive messages.

This week, Falmouth police said a month-long investigation led to six middle school students - ages 12 to 14 - being summoned to court for allegedly taking and distributing a nude photograph of a 13-year-old female classmate via their cell phones. School officials identified the students who had the photo.

Two high-schoolers and an Assumption College senior say they text message, but nothing racy.

"There's no point in it," 16-year-old Justin Roman said outside Worcester City Hall. "People are going to show it to the next person. It's just stupid."

Told about a recent investigation in Billerica, in which a seminude picture of a 14-year-old was circulating over cell phones, Justin and his friend Brandon McCoy, 16, quickly pointed out that cyberspace has a long memory.

"It's out there for life," Brandon said.

"It's out there. People can keep messages for like two years," Justin added. "That's just downgrading herself."

Heidi Lukas, a West Boylston native and senior at Assumption College, believes adolescents still feel there is a veil in the text-messaging/cyber world.

"I think it is easier for people to say something sexual or risque through text messages than face to face," the 21-year-old sociology and theater double major said.

She sends text messages, but only when she knows she can't reach a person because he or she is busy. Ms. Lukas said people create a sub-identity online through social networking Web sites such as Facebook or MySpace. The Internet allows people to change who they are, she said.

"I think technology gives people, especially young people, a rude awakening to the world," said Ms. Lukas.

Technology gives people more ways to communicate. Many parents aren't even aware of the different ways teens and young adults connect, but they need to be.

"How many parents know what these kids are doing on these phones?" said Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. "Having a child with Internet access in the phone is not the best thing."

Teens can visit many Web sites, possibly contact people they only know in the online world and do many other things with an Internet-ready phone or hand-held device.

The best way to handle the situation is talking, Mr. Early said. There is no easy way to sit a teenager down and talk about sex and their online activity, but parents can't bury their heads and say "Well, my child isn't doing it," said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy.

"We have to come to terms with the sexual development of our kids and take responsibility for guidance," she said.

Better technology gives parents more reason to have discussions with their child, Ms. Quinn said. Other opportunities for guidance include school, youth development organizations and church.

Mr. Early and his staff talk to thousands of schoolchildren a year about Internet safety, making the right choices and other topics. As Ms. Quinn points out, teens take risks, but positive risks help teens grow in the "complicated waters of adolescence."

Joining a school play is an example of a positive risk, Ms. Quinn said.

Teens and young adults who send pictures or risque text messages have to realize those communications can be posted on the Internet. The online world is also monitored by employers and colleges, Mr. Early said.

In some cases across the state, law enforcement officials have looked at criminal charges because the picture is being disseminated among friends and the person in the picture is a minor.

Depending on what the picture shows and the age of the person in the picture, charges could be brought against those distributing the photo, Mr. Early said.

Contact Scott Croteau by e-mail at [e-mail].

ART: PHOTO; CHARTS

CUTLINE: (PHOTO) Texting on cell phones outside Worcester City Hall, Brandon McCoy, 16, left, and Justin Roman, 16, both said, "It's out there for life." (CHARTS) Sex and technology

PHOTOG: (PHOTO) T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS (CHARTS) T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.