The Daily Beast‘s Ashleigh Banfield wrote a screed today arguing that “sexting” offenders—-teens who send naked photos of themselves and others to other teens—-should be prosecuted harshly, to serve as examples for others. Banfield says that a “little felony can ruin your life.” Which is why teenage sexters should receive felonies: to ruin their lives.

Banfield also suggests, in her title (“Drinking Age? We Need a Texting Age!“) that there ought to be a minimum age that adolescents can send text messages. “We’ve already decided they can’t be trusted to drink in moderation, drive before age 16, or make many legal decisions before age 18,” she writes. But Banfield doesn’t suggest what age would be appropriate!

So: At what are are teenagers old enough to handle the technology that will inveitably ruin their lives?