Playing Keep Away

A recent study reports that 42 percent of Internet users between the ages of 10 and 17 have viewed online porn.



The multibillion-dollar mainstreaming of porn has distorted, among other things, our judgment. Other recent research shows that the more porn people watch, the lower their standards for protecting children.


Dr. Mary Ann Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania, tells of one study in which people were asked various questions before and after watching quantities of porn.


One question was whether we should restrict children’s access to XXX-rated material. Post-porn, the number of people answering “yes” was reduced by half. Like any stimulant, the effects of porn diminish with use.


Not only are our kids being exposed to more porn, as a society we are increasingly less likely to want to protect them from it. We’re acclimated to what 30 years ago would have been considered “soft porn” and 60 years ago unspeakably vulgar. Here is what we’re currently willing to accept, according to a 2005 study from SRBI:

We didn’t arrive at this place suddenly - the journey was incremental. Before the nudity, others were “pushing the envelope” with profanity. With cable TV unrestricted and nearly everyone has cable TV the limit of what is tolerated increased. Just as it was noted in the University of Pennsylvania study, as a society we are increasingly numb to material that years ago would have been offensive. In Canada, pornography is shown on broadcast TV at night. Can the United States be far behind?

Adults over 35 for the most part grew up with the benefit of a real childhood, protected by our parents and by society. We were permitted to keep our innocence much longer than kids today. Kids today have seen and done so much that they seem quite sophisticated by comparison. However, that is a surface sophistication only - emotionally they are ill-equipped to deal with the adults topics to which they are exposed.

Viewing pornography is destructive. It’s harmful at any age, and we need to make it unacceptable in society’s eyes. That starts in the home. For parents who are interested in protecting their children, there is little option other than direct supervision. Don’t let your child have a computer in his bedroom. Utilize filtering software and pop-up blockers, but also make a point to be in the room while your child surfs the internet. Before you turn on the TV, check to see if the show is suitable.

Go with your child to the library, where adults regularly view porn at public computers. Most importantly, we need to censor our own media intake so that we do not become desensitized to it and lower our standards for what is acceptable for our children. The change starts with you, one household at a time.