I read with particular interest the following excerpt:
About 15 percent of teens ages 12-17 say they’ve received sexually suggestive photos or videos of someone they know, according to a study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Four percent admit they’ve sent photos of themselves to others.
Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist and author of the report, said “sexting,” as it’s called, has become a form of “relationship currency.”
“These images are shared as a part of or instead of sexual activity,” she said, “or as a way of starting or maintaining a relationship with a significant other.”
Here is where the respected Pew Research and Ms. Lenhart are dead wrong! “Relationship Currency” – as a registered trademarked by our firm, is defined as a win-win investment in a valuable and prioritized relationship, one that has an immediate and quantifiable impact to enhance both party’s condition. Ms. Lenhart’s comment is a gross misuse of the term, particularly given the troubling topic of teen sexting. We believe Relationship Currency Deposits to be of great value in our society, highly instrumental to one’s personal and professional success in 2010 and beyond heightened by the current environment of low trust. It is unfortunate that Ms. Lenhart has decided to use an otherwise positive and wholesome phrase, instrumental to the success of many hard-working professionals, and unjustly associate it with inappropriate and juvenile acts.
Another reminder that even the most astute of analysts can get careless and lazy with their word choice!
What does “relationship currency” mean to you?
