Texting With Strangers: 13-Year-Old Girl Volunteered Personal Info to Dixon Woman

Are social media and cell phone use desensitizing youth to the dangers of communicating with strangers?

Dixon resident Darcy Granillo recently sent a text to a wrong number. In return, she received detailed information from a 13-year-old girl who was more than willing to spill personal details about herself to a complete stranger.

Granillo texted the words "do you have a Twitter account," to a 707 area code that used to belong to a friend. That friend had recently changed her number. 

She received this response, "I have Twitter, but this is a new number for me. I don't think I know you... I am only 13."

Granillo responded with an apology for the wrong number, expecting the end of the conversation. Much to her surprise the teen wrote back and divulged the following unsolicited information.

• She is 13
• She broke her ankle dancing
• She loves to dance with her crew
• She has no dad
• She loves her mom and they are best friends
• She is not a girlie girl, that's why she only cheered a couple of years
• She loves to hunt and eat deer when her mom cooks it
• She has a championship dance competition coming up and will be so mad if she misses it because of her ankle

Mortified that a 13 year old was so willing to provide so much information to a complete stranger, Granillo told the child she had to leave for work, receiving one last text reading, "I know we just started talking but I like you, you're cool."

"I'm sure she would tell me her name," says Granillo of the conversation. "I have a feeling she thinks we are friends. She volunteered everything, I was not asking. She still doesn't know if I am a man or woman."

Sgt. Tom Cordova, Dixon Police Department, says he hasn't heard any reports of prior incidences like this happening in Dixon, but that with the availability of technology and information online, this is just another reason why parents need to really monitor what their kids are doing to keep them safe.

Granillo posted the story on her Facebook wall asking for thoughts from her friends. Comments below the explanation make this scenario seem all to common. 

One commenter reported a child who told him "all about himself and his drama." That was after the man told the child he had texted the wrong number.

Another commenter on the thread said her daughter received a text from an 11-year-old. After telling her it was the wrong number, the child continued to text her. The mother of the 11-year-old was angry when the mother of the recipient got involved, denying that her child was at fault. After that, the girl's mom began receiving prank calls from the number.

A Kaiser Family Foundation study done in 2009 reports that 31 percent of kids between 8-10 and 69 percent of tweens 11-14 own cell phones.