Vault: Do You Know What Your Kids Are Texting?

Summary

The Bert Show – “Vault: Do You Know What Your Kids Are Texting?”

Original Air Date: March 25, 2026

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Episode Overview

This candid episode of The Bert Show dives into the real and pressing issue of teenagers and preteens’ phone use, with a particular focus on texting, “sexting,” and how much parents actually know (or think they know) about what’s happening on their kids’ phones. The hosts and listeners share stories, data, and opinions about parental oversight, privacy, and the consequences teens face when private digital behavior becomes public.
Theme: Parental awareness and control over children’s digital communication and the prevalence of risky behaviors among middle and high school students.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Reality of Teen Sexting (01:00–02:25)

• The hosts raise concerns about parents' underestimation of what their kids are really doing online:
  • “More and more you’re hearing stories now in the news of sexting going on and kids getting in trouble for it, kids getting arrested for it, kids getting kicked out of school for it.” — Host (01:12)
  • A news story is cited where a 14-year-old girl’s nude photo circulated at a California middle school; 10 students faced in-school suspensions.
• The hosts emphasize surprising statistics:
  • “That stat. One in five teenagers have sent nude pictures of themselves somewhere.” — Host (02:07)
  • They challenge the assumption: "You probably think...not mine. Grab the phone, give us a call, let’s scroll through those texts." — Host (01:12)

2. Educators Are on the Front Lines (02:25–03:48)

• A caller recounts how their mother, a middle school principal in Florida, had to address sexting in an assembly:
  • The principal asks students how many would be comfortable with her seeing their phone content, resulting in silence.
  • Discussion broadens to include teacher-student texting scandals: “They’ve had a lot of relationships busted between teachers and students over texting and sexting.” — Caller (03:07)
• The topic is highlighted as both local and national concern: “It’s been a big topic of discussion, and I think that, you know, parents are kind of naive to this whole thing.” — Caller (03:48)

3. Parental Monitoring – Technology and Ethics (03:50–05:14)

• A 19-year-old caller, Destiny, explains her mother’s excitement about being able to view her kids’ texts online:
  • “She told me that she could check your text, did that freak you out? …It did, and she was excited about it. And I was like, oh, great.”— Destiny (04:23, 04:27)
• Destiny has a 17-year-old sister “pretty much freaking out,” suggesting secretive behavior is common (04:41).
• Callers and hosts debate the ethics and practicality of surveillance:
  • “I have her password on MySpace. I have everything.” — Caller (05:30)
  • “If my parents had my Facebook or MySpace password, I would just create a different account.” — Caller (06:47)

4. The Cat-and-Mouse of Parental Oversight (05:50–07:10)

• The hosts and callers discuss the arms race of digital monitoring and teen subversion:
  • “You gotta be way more covert now.” — Host (07:08)
  • Parents mention using keyloggers and software, while teens create secret or secondary accounts.

5. Real-Life Discoveries & Family Impact (07:22–10:00)

• A dramatic call from a parent who found nude photos on their 15-year-old daughter’s phone, hidden in the photo gallery (not the messages):
  • “She was deleting her messages and I found the pictures in her pictures…She’s had her phone for quite a while. I’ve always trusted her.” — Caller (07:36)
  • The discovery led to stricter rules and a family meeting.
• This prompts debate about whether sending nude photos indicates sexual activity:
  • “I do think her daughter is sexually active. And I think the fact that you made it more strict in the house has just secured that.” — Caller (08:47)
  • Discussion on whether sending such images counts as sexual activity: “Sending nude pictures, having sex is not the only sexual activity that you can participate in.” — Caller (09:21)

6. Boys, Girls, and “Vulgar” Messages (09:36–11:06)

• A father describes discovering a sexually explicit, harassing message sent to his 13-year-old daughter by a classmate:
  • “A young man sent her picture text of his hands…‘looks like parts of your female anatomy need to be held.’…She texts him back and said, ‘Please don’t send this type stuff to me.’ He just berated her back…” — Caller (09:39)
• The parent’s takeaway: “If you have middle schoolers, definitely check your kids’ stuff…it’s more of a protection thing.” — Caller (10:33)

7. Prevalence of Hidden Behaviors (11:10–11:48)

• No matter how strict or trusting parents are, hosts and callers agree that many teens have secret accounts or behaviors; parents’ trust is often misplaced.
• More statistics drive home the point:
  • “One in five teenagers has sent a nude or semi nude picture to somebody…[and] 9 out of 10 parents think it can’t be their kid.” — Host (11:37, 11:48)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You take your kids stuff and you check it. I have her password on MySpace. I have everything.” — Caller/Parent (05:30)
• “If my parents had my Facebook or MySpace password, I would just create a different account. Don’t you think the majority of kids are doing that?” — Caller (06:47)
• “She was deleting her messages and I found the pictures in her pictures.” — Parent, on discovering nude photos (07:36)
• “I do think her daughter is sexually active. And I think the fact that you made it more strict in the house has just secured that.” — Caller (08:47)
• “You gotta be way more covert now.” — Radio Host (07:08)
• “If you have middle schoolers, definitely check your kids’ stuff…it’s more of a protection thing.” — Father caller (10:33)
• “One in five teenagers has sent a nude or semi nude picture to somebody…[and] 9 out of 10 parents think it can’t be their kid.” — Radio Host (11:37, 11:48)

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Important Timestamps

• 01:00 – Host introduces the topic, issues call for parents to check kids’ phones
• 01:45 – News story of California middle schoolers sexting
• 02:07 – Discussion of “one in five” sexting statistic
• 02:26 – Educator’s assembly story from Florida
• 03:50 – Destiny discusses parental monitoring of texts
• 05:30 – Parent describes full access to child’s accounts
• 06:47 – Teenage perspective on creating hidden accounts
• 07:29 – Parent discovers nude photos on daughter’s phone
• 09:39 – Father recounts harassment of 13-year-old daughter by peer, underscores need for oversight
• 11:37 – Stats on sexting prevalence and parental denial

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Flow & Tone

The conversation maintains a balance of humor, candor, and concern. Hosts and callers are direct, sometimes blunt, and draw on real life and news stories to ground the discussion. The tone is conversational, lively, and at times, confessional or exasperated.

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Takeaways

• Parental denial is widespread; many believe “not my kid,” ignoring mounting evidence and anecdotes.
• Teens are technologically and socially adept at hiding behaviors.
• Open communication and smart, respectful oversight may be more effective than heavy-handed, secretive surveillance.
• Sexting and risky digital behavior are common and rarely limited to “other people’s” children.
• Parents need to be informed, vigilant, and proactive – but also realistic about the limits of control.

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For more on parenting, digital lives, and teen behavior, check out daily episodes at www.thebertshow.com.

Transcript

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[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Get it the Bird show. We want to offer up the voice disguiser here. We'll disguise your voice and we'll never mention your child's name. But we're really curious here if you have a son or a daughter that is in middle school right now, what we'd like you to try is this is to go get their cell phone and turn it on and scroll through the texts and tell us what you find. Because more and more you're hearing stories now in the news of sexting going on and kids getting in trouble for it, kids getting arrested for it, kids getting kicked out of school for it. And if you're not in touch with it, you probably think you're in middle school. No problem. No, come on, not mine. Grab the phone, give us a call. And we want to scroll through those texts with you and see what you find.

[Caller/Parent]

Yeah, because there's a new story out this morning about students in a middle school at Orange County, California. 10 students total. It all started when a 14 year old girl sent a nude picture of herself to a friend and that friend sent it on to other people. So the 10 students involved in the sexting got in house suspensions, no charges expected. But they said this is on the heels of that recent survey that said one in five teenagers have sent nude pictures of themselves somewhere.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

So listen to that stat. Listen, that stat. One in five of you have kids in this age range and you think no problem. They're just using it to communicate back and forth with you or with their friends. You know, what are you guys doing later on? 1 in 5 are sending pictures or doing the whole nude pictures or the sexting thing.

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[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

It's been such a big issue with Jen Hobby's mom because she's a teacher also, that she's had to, like, talk to the class about it.

[Caller/Parent]

Yeah, my mom's in education in Florida. She's a middle school principal, actually, and had to have a lecture with her seventh and eighth graders and got them all in sort of an assembly thing. And, you know, started this conversation about sexting because she said, you know, how many of you in the room have a cell phone? Everybody's, like, all excited, raise their hand. Oh, me, me, me. You know, how many of you, you know, text message on your cell phone? Everybody raised their hand. And then she said, if I collected your cell phones right now, how many of you have something on there that you wouldn't want me to see? And the whole room fell silent, I bet. And, you know, except for one kid

who was like, oh, me, me, me.

Oh, you tricked us.

And she said they had to have this whole talk about the, you know, sexting and, you know, sending those pictures and all that kind of stuff and the legal ramifications of it all. I guess in Florida they've had. Or maybe in Tampa it was. They've had a lot of relationships busted between teachers and students over texting and sexting and that kind of thing. And I think it's been a really big, you know, kind of a hot topic in Florida because of these news stories going on and because of, you know, teachers getting busted locally for dating students. I think one woman was dating, like, an eighth grader, something like that. She was a. An eighth grade teacher or something. Anyway, so it was. It's been a big topic of discussion, and I think that, you know, parents are kind of naive to this whole thing.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Good morning, Q100. Destiny.

[Caller/Teen]

Hello.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Hey, Destiny.

[Caller/Teen]

My mom actually told me this, like, yesterday, that now you can actually view your child's text messages on the Internet.

[Caller/Parent]

Yeah. And they post them up there with naked pictures of themselves.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

You mean you can get, like, a certain account with your.

[Caller/Teen]

I guess. I don't really know. My mom said that you can view them for the past month.

[Caller/Parent]

How old are you?

[Caller/Teen]

I'm 19.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Okay, well, it doesn't really apply to you. I mean.

[Caller/Teen]

Well, it still does because I'm still, like, under my mom, and she pays my bill and everything.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

So when she told you that she could check your text, did that freak you out?

[Caller/Teen]

It did, and she was excited about it. And I was like, oh, great.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Was there anything that you text over the last 30 days when she told you that, you're like, oh, no. If she checked the last month. Busted.

[Caller/Teen]

No, actually not. But my sister's pretty much freaking out and she's like, I'm pretty much screwed. And I was like, oh, how old is your sister? She's 17.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

And what's on her phone that she's afraid your mom's gonna see?

[Caller/Teen]

I have no clue.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

You're probably better off that way anyway. Yeah, thanks for calling.

[Caller/Parent]

God, I would so use that tech

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[Caller/Parent]

Yeah, I don't think.

Oh, you know what?

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

There's a website even if there's not.

[Caller/Parent]

Yeah, well, there's no website like that.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Yes, brooke, you're on Q100. Good morning.

[Caller/Parent]

Good morning. Gosh, I want that lady to call back so bad. I want to know.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

I know. She got right to the part where she was about to tell us what was on the ph.

[Caller/Parent]

Yeah, it's like the biggest build up for the biggest letdown.

Maybe she should call us back from her son's cell phone.

I have a 12 year old daughter and I have checked her phone before. I didn't find any nude pictures or anything, but I did find some wordage that I didn't like very much. And I want to say I don't think there is a debate. You take your kids stuff and you check it. I have her password on MySpace. I have everything.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

I'm with you. You know, I went to school with plenty of kids whose parents thought they were angels. They were getting good grades, they were coming home on time and everything seemed fine. But I know that two hours before that they were doing crazy, crazy stuff that their parents had no idea about. Coke, drinking crazy amounts of alcohol, taking cars. And their parents just thought they were angels. Just angels. And with my experience, there's even. I'm looking at Hayden now, and he seems like such an angel to me. Doesn't matter to me. I'm still checking Facebook, MySpace, whatever's gonna be available to him in a couple of years. Cell phone also.

[Caller/Parent]

I. I'm channeling myself as a kid and I'm gonna preface this by saying I was in the talented and gifted program, so this might not apply to everyone, but I'm just saying if my parents had my passwords and stuff, you know, like Facebook or MySpace or whatever.

Do not take you seriously either.

Why?

I just can't.

I know I've been dealing with the jealousy for years. Ever since fourth grade, since I had the special classes. So if my parents had my Facebook or MySpace password. I would just create a different account. Don't you think the majority of kids are doing that?

That's what I thought. If a parent. Cause I would try to be more of a sneaky parent. I gotta be honest with you. I gotta be where I would be checking them and they didn't know I was checking them.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

You gotta be way more covert now.

[Caller/Parent]

And you can buy stuff, right, that you put on your computer and it records passwords, captured screens.

I totally agree with you. If my. If millipede had all my passwords and I was trying to sneak around, I would create different accounts.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Hey, Kelly.

[Caller/Parent]

Good morning.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

You're on the voice disguiser.

[Caller/Parent]

Good morning.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Good morning.

[Caller/Parent]

I found the nude pictures on my daughter.

Okay.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

How old is she?

[Caller/Parent]

Of her?

Yes. 15 years old.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

And you found them of her? So she was sending these out to somebody else?

[Caller/Parent]

Yeah, but the thing is, I always check text messages and I went into all of her pictures. That's where I found it. She was deleting her messages and I found the pictures in her pictures. And, you know, I didn't think to go through, scroll through all these pictures. She's 15. She's had her phone for quite a while. I've always trusted her as far as that because I honestly don't believe she's sexually active yet. Because I keep really close. I mean, she's not able to do anything. Hardly. I keep a close watch on her. But that made me realize just how,

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

you know, Melissa, why are you shaking

[Caller/Parent]

your head about things? And things totally have changed in our house. We've had to have, you know, sit down, family meeting. Mom, I'm divorced, but dad got involved finally and had to have some long talks. And she's been through a lot of stuff over the last couple months after this, but we're totally worried because of what the future might hold for her as far as where these pictures could have ended up. Because she's a talented kid that's gonna try out for American Idol. You know, there's a lot of stuff that's gonna be happening.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

A lot of those American Idol kids don't have a squeaky clean past either. What were you shaking your head about?

[Caller/Parent]

I was shaking my head just because, I mean, not to disrespect her as a mother, but I do think her daughter is sexually active. And I think the fact that you made it more strict in the house has just secured that. I know, you know, there's a fine balance in parenting of not being too strict, because when you're Too strict. You're gonna have the opposite effect of what you want on your kid.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Can you assume that if your K has naked pictures of herself on her phone that she is sexually active and she's telling you that she's not, or

[Caller/Parent]

she's months away from being sexually active? I mean, that's being sexually active right there, right?

Sending nude pictures, having sex is not just. It's not the only sexual activity that you can participate in.

And I think it depends on what those pictures look like, too. If she's in a sexy pose and she's, you know, strutting her stuff, then yes, she's sexually active.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Hey, David, you're on Q100.

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[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

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I have two middle schoolers, one in eighth grade, one in seventh grade. My daughter's in seventh grade and she's 13. She got a picture text message last week. A young man sent her picture text of his hands. Well, in the message after the picture text was, it looks like parts of your female anatomy need to be held. And she takes him back and said, please don't send this type stuff to me. And he just berated her back with several things of what? I mean, just nasty F bombs and, you know, calling her a bitch and all this kind of stuff. And we were just. We couldn't believe it. And we actually stumbled on it by accident because my daughter left her phone in. In my wife's car. But we don't allow Facebook, we don't allow MySpace. And to all the parents out there, if you have middle schoolers, definitely check your kids stuff. I mean, I'm, you know, I'm old school. I'm, you know, I'm 41 years old. And, you know, we're. We're definitely checking our kids stuff, and it's more of a protection thing. And we were just, you know, we asked. My daughter was like, what? You know, are you sending these kind of texts back? And she said, no, but you've got to protect your kids.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Thanks for calling I. One more and then we'll move on. I mean, I think we're getting the same.

[Caller/Parent]

Mm, she's got MySpace page somewhere.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

You think so? Yeah.

[Caller/Parent]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Hey, Kelly, you're on Q100.

[Caller/Parent]

Hey, I caught my 16 year old.

[Caller/Teen]

He had gotten in trouble, and I took his phone and was just scrolling through the messages. I found out he was smoking pot.

[Caller/Parent]

I found out he was drinking.

[Caller/Teen]

And this has been like three months, and he has not left the house in three months.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

Is that right? I mean, look, here's what the stats are showing you now. One in five?

[Caller/Parent]

Yes, one in five teenagers has sent a nude or semi nude picture to somebody. 1 in 5 they say. I mean in a third of 20 something. So. But when you're 20 something, you're an adult.

[Radio Host (The Bird Show)]

95 teenagers and 9 out of 10 parents think it can't be their kid. Get it?

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