Delving further into the practice of sexting is needed for health care professionals to respond appropriately, they said. Researchers noted that the smaller studies contributing to the meta-analysis of the more than 110,000 children do not offer specific, consistent details about who is sexting when, only that it has increased over time and with the proliferation of smartphones. That alone should send alarm bells ringing." "Some will even show you how to do it without notifying the sender that you are saving the snap. "Perform a quick internet search for 'save Snapchat pics' or words to that effect, and you will see a few hundred websites purporting to show you how to keep snaps you are sent," stated an April 2017 blog. And, Tech Junkie warns, photos can be saved, even without the sender's knowledge. The website Tech Junkie reports that originally it was teens who used the app for sexting, but now people of all ages use it. The increased popularity of Snapchat - a smartphone app that deletes photos after 10 seconds - led to an expanded rate of sexting. with age is commensurate with older youth having greater access to and/or owning smartphones compared with younger youth," researchers wrote. The prevalence of sexting - "sharing of sexually explicit images, videos, or messages through electronic means" - has increased in recent years as youths age and smartphone use increases, researchers said. The research, which was evenly split between boys and girls, looked at sexts that were sent, received, forwarded without consent and received without consent. Over the past decade, researchers studied more than 110,000 youths between the ages of 12 and 18, according to JAMA Pediatrics, a leading medical journal that publishes the latest clinical studies. Sexting is growing among children in the United States, particularly as more of them use smartphones, according to new research.