The easy access to online pornography and the potential hazards of continued exposure have raised concerns about the health and well-being of children. The Internet has made children’s access to pornographic content even more problematic.
Children and young people who use e-mail or the Internet are at risk. Almost half of children between the ages of 9 and 16 often see their first porn video. Boys and girls have become victims of sexual fantasies and erotic gratification time and time again.
Due to pornographic content, children are greatly hindered in their growth and maturity. They become slaves to enjoyment and consumption. Healthy sex is essential to our children, their marriages, society and future generations.
Unfortunately, this is a topic that parents should discuss with their children, but instead of simply saying no to pornography and sexual fantasies, you need to help your child understand why it is so dangerous. This article explains some of the best practices that you can inculcate in your life so that your child does not fall into the trap of watching pornographic content on the internet.
What You Know – The Porn Problem Can Affect Your Child
Here are the grim facts that you probably have an idea of:
Statistics on Porn Exposure of Children
Exposure to child and youth pornography may be intentional or unintentional. Some examples of unintentional disclosure include opening unwanted messages or receiving spam, entering a website address incorrectly, searching for non-sexual or sexually suggestive terms, or accidentally displaying pop-up messages.
Intentional exposure of pornographic content is purposeful, usually by actively searching for material on the Internet. It is not clear to what extent inadvertent viewing of pornographic content on the Internet contributes to deliberate viewing of pornographic content.
Older children and boys are more likely to watch pornography. According to data by ChildNet, they found that 40% of girls encountered pornography on the Internet. Compare that with 56% of boys and 25% of adults report actively seeking pornography.
Harmful Effects of Porn
Exposure to pornography normalizes sexual abuse, creates unrealistic expectations of intimate partners and relationships, and increases the risk of addiction, thereby harming children and adolescents.
Generation Z browses online media for an average of 9 hours a day. Such a long online presence will definitely increase children’s curiosity about exploring the Internet and expose them to pornography risks. “My son doesn’t want to see it,” might be what you believe. However, the multi-billion-dollar porn industry has invested heavily in the development of precise algorithms that encourage children to watch pornography.
As a result, many children accidentally come into contact with pornographic content. Sexual development can make images richer than originally anticipated. These risks hinder children’s sexual and intellectual development and may have devastating consequences.
What you might not know about how your child might come across Porn?
It’s really important to shed light on this, as it can prevent a lot of problems down the line.
Causes of Porn Exposure and Addiction in Kids
This is what’s going on when you might not be there to regulate your child’s exposure.
Peer Pressure
One of the main causes of child pornography addiction is peer pressure. In the lives of teenagers, no one has a more powerful influence than their friends and acquaintances.
Peer pressure can impair mental health, promote dangerous behaviors, alienate children from their families, and have a disastrous impact. It can lure children to explore more such content and worse, they could try to do them in real life. Hence, the more comfortable a child feels about his personality, the less likely it is to succumb to peer pressure.
Availability of Content
Nowadays, easy access to a large amount of information on internet sites also provide many opportunities for exposure to porn.
Children must complete most of their homework online, and in many cases, watching random pop-up windows on pornographic websites will arouse children’s curiosity and eventually lead to addiction.
Working parents find it difficult to look after their children and hence, using computers with little or no parental guidance can make it easier for children to access pornographic sites without interference.
Inherent Curiosity
Children are curious beings. They want to know the answers ot all the questions or understand how every single thing works immediately. Even a small glimpse of a pornographic image on the internet or in their surroundings can make then awfully curious to find out more about it.
Porn is powerful and always creates a desire in your brain for you to want more. This is much more common than you think. The rise of social media, pornographic text messaging, and general technology has created pathways for boys and girls to become addicted to pornographic content and experiences.
Effects of Porn Exposure and Addiction in Kids
These are the ways that your children might suffer down the line.
Porn Addiction
Exposure to porn at a young age causes children to be exponentially susceptible to addiction. This may cause an obsessive-compulsive disorder in your child and would be dangerous in the long term.
Sexual obsession is unconscious, repetitive and undesirable. One cannot just hope that it will stop. Attempting to suppress sexual obsessions will not work and will make sexual obsessions worse.
Can Incite Violence
Exposure to pornography also encourages children to act or sexually or violently with other children. Children often imitate what they see, read or hear. Studies have shown that exposure to pornography can cause children to behave inappropriately with the youngest, and most vulnerable children.
Pornography affects the development and personality of children. At certain key stages of childhood, the child’s brain is programmed for sexual orientation. If explicit pornography is available during this period, sexual perversions may damage the child’s “hard drive” and become a permanent part of their sexual orientation.
Affects their future
Pornography greatly hinders children’s growth and maturity, and makes them enslaved to pleasure and consumption. Watching pornography is extremely dangerous and harmful because it affects the future of children in many ways.
For example, potential employers and college admissions consultants may stumble upon posts while researching candidates, which will end up being detrimental to them.
5 Tips on Helping your Kids Realize the Truth of the Porn Problem
The Internet means access to instant information. One major disadvantage is that it is easy for children to find adult content. This usually happens too quickly to prevent, so it is important to prepare for this situation.
However, the curiosity of children is almost impossible to stifle.
As adults, it is our responsibility to raise our children with appropriate knowledge and education about such content. Because if we do not prepare them to respond appropriately to pornography. They will keep the secrets they see and turn to a peer who is probably in a similar situation.
Determine What your Child Wants to Know
You can control the conversation, so you can share your values
Start a Friendly Dialogue
The biggest obstacle to conversation is often starting the conversation. A good way to start a conversation is to talk directly about the nature of the subject, such as “I know it can be embarrassing to talk about pornography at first, but there are some very important things you need to know.”
Be careful when talking with your child. Stay calm, confident and clear. Do not include tactics such as shame, or fear as they do not serve the purpose of education and will only make them more curious and go find out themselves. Thereby, it will undermine children’s understanding of healthy sexual relationships.
Make the Internet Safe for Your Child
Explain to your child that there is such a thing as “adults only” content on the Internet. Whether they are looking for or stumbled upon pornography, please be careful not to blame or humiliate your child, because curiosity is normal and appropriate in the development process.
However, what they might have seen would usually have an age restriction on the content. Tell them that typing in a fake age to view the video or website is wrong. Remember, this is not necessarily a one-time discussion. Remind your children that you are always ready to discuss this topic.
Enable content filters (or parental controls) such as BlockerX on your computer’s Internet browser. Children become tech savvy around the age of 10 and filters help keep children in websites suitable for their age.
Make them Understand when they are Young
Do not wait until your child is a young adult or over 18 to talk to them about porn. Children discover these things at a young age and you must condition them early as this is when their brains are developing and can retain important information easily.
You should talk to them about pornography as soon as they have access to the internet. Many parents worry that talking to their children about pornography will make them curious. But this is really good! We want our children to want to know more about pornography. As long as they are right by our side and we can give them the correct information about it.
We have two choices.
Either we tell them about pornography, or the media and friends will definitely tell them. If we are to establish ourselves as the first and most trusted source of information, we must take the initiative and arm our children against pornography.
Let them Know that Porn is Not Reality
Adult entertainment is full of exaggeration, and shows as fantasy. This does not reflect the true nature of sex. When your child is finally sexually active, you don’t want them to have the wrong idea about what to expect to happen. This is a good time to start talking about consent and restrictions, because pornography can also distort your thoughts about sexual intercourse expectations.
Tell them that sex also includes real emotions, such as loving and caring for your partner. Although it is sometimes uncomfortable, it is more beneficial to you. Take the initiative before your child is lured down the internet rabbit role. Talking about pornography with children is awkward, but necessary. Otherwise, they may end up in dark places.
Conclusion
The explosive growth of online media consumption and the online socialization of children, adolescents and young people are uncharted territory for many parents. The bottom line is: we cannot avoid exposing our children to pornography. Therefore, it is important to have a “safe” person who can talk about their feelings, fears, and confusion.
We also need to educate our children about pornography portrays sex, so they can learn to distinguish these images from real sex one day. We need to teach them how to engage safe and responsible sex in the future. After all, our children need to know that they can turn to someone safe for help when they see disturbing images of sex in pornography.
