Teens these days! They are so into their smartphones, they don’t even hang out at malls or school dances anymore.
One would think their Snapchat addiction would preclude them from having actual procreative sex, too. But apparently, this isn’t the case. So in its ongoing efforts to reduce teen pregnancy, DoSomething.org is hitting teens where they live: on their phones.
For the third year in a row, DoSomething.org is running a campaign in which they “turn students’ cellphones into crying, screaming, virtual babies,” the New York Daily News reports. Teens can enter their phone numbers on the project’s website or sign their friends up for the service.
Teens’ phones will light up all day with text messages from their virtual babies. A sample text: “I know you’re running late bu-GRRGLEBARFFFF. Oops, sorry about your shirt. Rappers spit rhymes, I spit up.” Topical.
Students can then respond and carry on a conversation with their pretend baby, who is assumed to have full texting and dad-joke capabilities. It’s probably more effective than the ’90s sitcom favorite wherein students take home life-size crying baby dolls or flour sacks.
Teen pregnancy has been dropping off since the 1950s, the New York Daily News says. DoSomething.org marketing associate Colleen Wormsley told the Daily News that “talking about teen pregnancy is one of the most important things we can do to prevent it.”
“Shame and fear tactics don’t work,” she added.
Well, this campaign will definitely get people talking — to fake babies that live inside their iPhones. Still, as far as prevention tactics go, it beats a Teen Mom marathon.