Did you know that today, the average age of young people who start watching pornography is just 13 years old? While many view it out of curiosity, some develop a habit of consuming adult content without realizing its addictive effects. In fact, research shows that watching porn can have similar effects on the brain as using drugs.
Are you aware of the serious consequences that can arise from your child’s excessive viewing of pornography?
The sad news is: most parents don’t know this. But it’s not too late if parents find out now! By reading this article, parents will better understand how “6 effects of watching porn on teenagers” and some essential actions to do before it is too late.
6 effects of watching porn on teenagers
The negative perception of body image and pressure to commit sexual activities
Many teenagers in qualitative research claim that pornography actually negatively impacts the way they perceive their bodies. For boys, this mostly revolves around penis size, although some also report feeling anxious about not having the white and muscular strength to attract female friends.
Meanwhile, girls worry about not having big breasts, big butt or body curve to be deem ed attractive in front of their boyfriends.
An unexpected finding from this study was that teenage girls performed genital hair removal mainly because of the pornographic content. They think they want to look as attractive and clean as the women actors in porn.
Parents may also need this information:
How pornography affects adolescents? Accept the myths about rape
This is especially true for girls. When girls are frequently exposed to porn, they are more likely to accept rape as a must and a favored thing, leading to your child having wrong rape myths and desires for rape during sexual intercourse later.
Sexually aggressive behavior
The girls reported that those watch porn as likely to be sexually aggressive as boys in their ability to engage in sexually aggressive behavior. Longitudinal research shows that girls and boys are 5 times more likely to exhibit sexual aggression if they watch violent sex movies.
Studies have also shown that there is a connection between watching pornography and engaging in criminal behavior as a young person.
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
Harmful to adolescent brains
A survey of 813 US teenagers and young adults (13–25) found that 26% of teens 13–17 years of age actively search for pornography weekly or more frequently.
Research has proven that:
“Children are more susceptible to addiction than adults and affect brain development”
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Germany, found that higher use of pornography reduces the brain’s ability to respond to conventional pornography. This is probably what explains why more children tend to turn to more erotic, violent and unique forms (to gain the same stimulus they got in the first time they watched porn).
These shields children from building up insensitivity to women and a distorted view of what constitutes a healthy sexual relationship.
Emotional relationship with parents
A national survey of teens 9–17 years old reported that teens who watched porn online were more likely to report a poorer relationship with their parents than those teenagers who watch less pornography or not at all.
When children are at an age prone to falling into the dark like pornography, they need you to be with you to guide and instruct them, when the relationship deteriorates, your child will more easily be able to addict to porn.
The perception of women is a sexual tool
Research has found evidence of a strong relationship between children viewing pornography and seeing women as a sexual tool. Since then, the view of women as a sexual tool correlates with negative attitudes towards women; namely, the violence attitude towards women.
Pornography has been shown to cause your son to lose his sensitivity and empathy for the woman, and instead regarding women as sexual tools, which is so popular in porn when actors exhibit such a lack of empathy for women that sexual abuse in these films is completely normal.
To prevent your children to watching porn in the early age the good solution is using best free parental control software to block all aldult content. We will go deeply this field in the next part “How to block porn on kid’s devices”.
How can parents limit their child watching porn?
The period of puberty is when your child has very notable psychological and physiological changes, so it is necessary to have regular discussions with your child on issues related to gender.
When your child is in puberty, he or she is greatly influenced by the impact around them – the images of the actors in porn movies can completely mislead them that this is the body they must have had if they wanted a boyfriend in the future, leading to fasting, depression, anxiety disorders.
The effects of watching porn on the brains of children go far beyond their negative effects on the adult brain. Therefore, sex education for children should not only be given to schools and teachers, it is important that you actively participate and teach your children about sensitive issues like porn, or about healthy relationships.
If you are worried about the safety of your children when they’re online, especially with the fear of exposing them to harmful content, CyberPurify Egg has got you covered! One of the best parental controls 2023 keeps your kids SAFE from inappropriate content and websites like porn, dating, gambling, and more.
CyberPurify Egg enable fixed Safe Search to hide explicit results on Google, Bing and other search engines:
Be one of the first parents to own a CyberPurify Egg!
You may also need some tips on how to block porn on kid’s devices:
- How to set up free porn blocker software on Macbook
- How to block porn sites on Google Chrome
- How to block porn sites on Safari
- Set up parental controls for Microsoft Edge
- Set up parental controls for Youtube
Reference: Pornography & Public Health by National Center on Sexual Exploitation
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