Where have self-conscious teens gone?

More evidence the apocalypse is nigh: One in 10 teens admitted posting a nude or seminude shot of themselves or others online.

"That shocks me," said Stephanie Gockin, 25, who was walking through Seattle Center on Thursday. "When I was a teenager, I never took photos of myself."

Cracked her friend, Kate Barnes, also 25: "I didn't even want to be seen in a bathing suit."

Whether you blame Paris Hilton or all those "Girls Gone Wild," times have changed.

A study, commissioned by San Francisco-based Common Sense Media, polled 1,000 teens to gauge how much time young people are spending on social-networking sites, and what they do when they're on them.

The findings are not only worrisome, they're a puzzle.

Aren't teenagers the most insecure and self-conscious creatures on the planet? Isn't a zit enough to keep them inside for days?

Not anymore.

"I know a lot of girls who send naked pictures on phones," said one 15-year-old girl who works at Seattle Center. "They do it to get guys to like them."

Said her friend, also 15: "I would never. It's disgusting."

The study also revealed a New Immortality: Kids don't realize that what they post today could follow them to college, to work, to a run for political office.

"With teenagers, nothing ever happens to them," shrugged Sam Fredendall, 56, visiting from Michigan. "I don't think kids have a sense of the consequences."

Fredendall, who's raised her own kids and foster children, keeps four computers in her house, "and I see them all."

"I know passwords. I check e-mails. It's a condition," she said. "Either agree, or lose it."

It saved one of her kids from peril: "I had a 17-year-old daughter ready to do the dirty with a 21-year-old until I found the e-mails."

Fredendall's son, Erick, 17, understands the thinking behind the peeling off and posting.

"It's more of an attention thing," he said. "It's 'Look at me, I'm pretty.' It's usually sent privately to another person, and they post it."

His mother and I looked at each other, then him.

"Nah, don't worry about me," he said. "I post normal pictures. Poetry."

Misha Sadorsky, 23, visiting from Massachusetts, thinks young people are taking advantage of new technology.

"The camera is more ingrained in the social network," he said. "There's a much bigger diary, log culture. Everyone's into sharing every aspect of their lives."

But naked?

"That's a whole 'nother line."

Ah, but give people a moment to think and, well ...

Barnes recalled a girl who got drunk and took her shirt off at an outdoor mall in Atlanta. All kinds of people captured that scene and hit the send button.

Someone else I interviewed just got a cellphone photo of a friend wearing only a Frisbee.

Will we ever learn?

Common Sense Media is taking a shot this fall by starting a pilot program to bring media literacy into public-school classrooms.

It will cover everything from cellphone etiquette to the dangers of posting personal information — and images — online.

"The online network can be fun," said Erick Fredendall. "You just have to know when to stop."

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

No. Nothing. Yes, she's sure.