Louisa County, Va., earned notoriety earlier this year when it became the center of a sexting scandal, wherein scores of high school students posted inappropriate and in some cases pornographic pictures of themselves on Instagram. In an in-depth story about the case for The Atlantic, writer Hanna Rosin says the case illustrates just how normal sexting is for teens.

Every teen caught sexting by officials in Louisa County gave them five or 10 more names of teens to question. Many of those questioned pointed out that if you typed in the name of any county in Virginia, along with a provocative search word, you’d likely come across similar sites on Instagram, suggesting that Louisa County was far from unusual. The sheriff’s office collected two bins worth of cell phones with incriminating photos, but there was no end in sight to the case.

Teens were embarrassed by the photos, but most stressed they didn’t feel as if they were victims. The pictures were a normative part of their high school experience. Rosin quoted one teen as saying, “The only reason to regret it is if you get caught.”

Chief Deputy Sheriff Donald Lowe began the case, thinking the teens who posted the incriminating photos on Instagram were victims, but his thinking changed in time to, “They just fell into this category where they victimized themselves.” (The Atlantic)

Paul Asay has written for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for PluggedIn and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He recently collaborated with Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, on his book The Good Dad. He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Check out his entertainment blog or follow him on Twitter.