A funny picture or a flirty message on your phone may seem innocent enough, but what is your teen really saying when they send a text.

"Teenagers are having sex by the phone, sending flirty messages, meeting up to have sex," says 16 year old Rochellie Garcia.

"On the one hand it can be kind of fun to get an erotic message over your email or on the phone," says Certified Sex Therapist Joyce Joseph. "But on the other hand none of that is really safe or private."

It's known to teens as sexting, and though it doesn't always lead to a physical act, Joseph says it can confuse teenagers emotionally.

"They're experimenting with sex but they aren't integrated in a holistic way that would be better for their self-esteem if they really understood what love was," says Joseph.

Teens who text may not have the chance to discuss those feelings with an adult, because one of the appeals of sexting is the ability to hide the behavior from parents.

"I don't wanna talk on the phone that much, because my mom will ask me questions," says a teenage boy. "So I just text people."

"It's your phone, it's your own private business," says 16 year old Mackenzie Hamblin. "So if you want to do that stuff go ahead."

Privacy may be part of the appeal, but what many teens don't realize is how easily the message or pictures they send can be forwarded to dozens of unwanted recipients.

"All you gotta do is take it and send it out, thinking it's funny," says Garcia. "But the boys you're sending it to can take it and put it on MySpace or put it somewhere where everyone can see it."

Last week former American Idol hopeful Colin Leahy made national news when he was arrested for sending sexually explicit text messages to a 12 year old boy. A situation Joseph says teens need to be aware of, and prepared to report.

"If you've asked them to stop and they don't stop, and or the message is offensive to you, then you need to immediately act and block that number," says Joseph.

And as technology continues to change the ways teens can communicate, Joseph says parents need to monitor who their teens are talking to, and more importantly what they are talking about.

"It's really important that parents sit down and talk to their teenagers and help them to develop the emotional and intimacy skills," says Joseph. "So that when and if they are ready to be sexual that they are much more balanced."