Many people start to struggle with pornography and sex addiction during their teenage years, but unfortunately, many parents do not take action to prevent this issue. This may be due to a belief that their children would never be involved with it or a lack of understanding about the serious harm it can cause.
It’s a fact that kids aren’t looking for porn, but pornography is targeting your kids
Do you currently allow your children unrestricted access to the internet? If so, this article will change your mind about 5 negative impacts that it can have on kids.
5 negative effects of pornography on kids
Pornography normalizes sexual harm
Research shows that media can significantly impact viewers’ perceptions, especially children. When your child is exposed to violent, racist content and especially, pornography, your child’s worldview will suffer, have a negative perception of what good and sustainable relationships are and increase the chance of engaging in high-risk behaviors.
Dr. Sharon Cooper, a forensic pediatrician and lecturer at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, confirms that children are greatly impacted by the images they see. In this case, young children can be strongly influenced by harmful sexual images from pornography, which can have damaging effects on their mental and emotional well-being.
What influence is that? Pornographic content normalizes sexual harm by portraying a lack of intimate relationships between partners, in some cases, violence and rape.
During childhood, a child’s brain is still developing and more easily influenced by the things they see and experience. This is because the neurons in their brain play a crucial role in how they process new information. Children learn mostly by copying others, and these reflective neurons are responsible for observing others’ actions and then imitating them.
That is why, compared to adults, kids are more susceptible to pornography because:
It convinces them they are actually experiencing what they see
Pornography makes your child addicted to it
Watching inappropriate movies without any restrictions can quickly turn into a serious addiction, starting from just a curious search on the Internet. Chemically, dopamine is the basis of this addictive behavior. Dopamine is a brain chemical that makes people feel comfortable, a rewarded feeling for doing things that will help them survive and succeed in life.
When large amounts are released too quickly, addiction occurs. Since the brain cannot immediately process high levels of dopamine, it builds a wall of tolerance to pornography. This may mean less dopamine is released or less dopamine receptor is released that function less.
This means that if a child watches inappropriate movies or violent pornography, they may become motivated to keep watching it to get the same excitement they felt the first time.
The more they watch, the more their brain becomes used to it and the harder it becomes to stop. This can lead to the formation of a “hardened” state in the brain that blocks the areas responsible for decision making and rewards.
Studies have shown that people with one addiction are more likely to develop another. When your child is addicted to pornography, he or she is more likely to be addicted to drugs, stimulants and other disorders such as personality disorders, mood disorders and anxiety.
Porn addiction in children and adolescents has the potential to cause a life-long struggle in which your child’s biological reward system and behavior are always intertwined with sex.
Not only does pornography discourage your child from learning, but it can also lead to sexting – sending, receiving and transmitting pornographic messages, pictures, videos, and behaviors that can damage the reputation of a whole life of a man but are overlooked by today’s teenagers.
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Pornography makes your child aggressive toward women
The aggression and violence against women found in most popular pornography can teach your children (especially boys) that aggression towards women is socially tolerated and accepted to be hostile towards women.
Since then, pornography is targeting your kids and causes your child to lose their sensitivity and empathy for women and instead your child will see women as a sexual tools. This is evident in porn films where male actors exhibit such a lack of empathy towards women that sexual abuse in these films is completely normal.
Pornography creates negative attitudes and behaviors towards women
A 2009 analysis of pornography and violence against women found a significant relationship between watching pornography and advocating attitudes toward violence against women. A 2001-2004 survey of middle and high schools found that:
76% of people who commit sexual harassment regularly watch pornography
The above studies of sexual and violent content have shown that teenagers accept, learn from, and can mimic behaviors depicted in porn that are normative and engaging.
Other research has also demonstrated an association between the consumption of pornography and juvenile delinquency.
A prime example is Nathan Matthews. This guy killed his stepmother’s stepdaughter in a horrible way like in a horror movie. According to the investigation, Matthews is an extremely violent sex addict.
Source: thescottishsun.co.uk
Pornography influences your child’s healthy relationships in the future
This is one of the worse negative effects of pornography on kids. Establishing healthy relationships is an extremely important milestone in your child’s childhood. As your child regularly exposes to pornography, your child will develop negatively about what is expected of sex for men and women, and can also influence their future sexual behavior.
For example, the harm mentioned above: aggressive attitudes and behaviors towards women.
A 2006 survey of high school students aged 14-18 found that regular access to media sites which support distorted views about sexual stereotypes was more likely to believe sex is just entertainment, men only want it and women are their tools.
Even television can have such bad affects on children, the negative effects of pornography on kids and teenagers, with more violent and engaging images is more serious, we believe you can imagine the worst scenario.
In short, what parents need to do know?
To better protect kids from porn and prevent negative effects of pornography on kids , you need to understand why pornography can leave detrimental effects on your kids like:
- Distort images of women
- Porn addiction and other addiction risks
- Low performance at schools
- Lack of confidence about their bodies
Porn is inherently addictive, so only a few times watching, your child is likely to “indulge” in pornography. So, what parents need to do now?
Concerned about your children’s exposure to harmful content? With the average age of children first accessing pornography lowering to 7 years old, the risk is higher than ever!
It’s heartbreaking to think that your innocent child could be exposed to such harmful content, leading to porn addiction, poor academic performance, or even imitation of dangerous behaviors. But you don’t have to face this fear alone.
CyberPurify Egg is here to protect them from inappropriate websites such as porn, dating, gambling, and more. Egg is the one and only solution that can detect and blur content in real-time.
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Reference:
- How Pornography Harms Children: The Advocate’s Role
- Villani, Susan. “Impact of Media on Children and Adolescents: A 10-Year Review of the Research.” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 40, April 2001
- Hald, Gert Martin, et al. “Pornography and Attitudes Supporting Violence Against Women: Revisiting the Relationship in Nonexperimental Studies.” Aggressive Behavior 35, 2009, 1, 3, 5.
- Young, Kimberly S. “Internet Sex Addiction: Risk Factors, Stages of Development, and Treatment.” American Behavioral Scientist 52, July 2008, 21, 31.
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