Some say pornography is a harmless adult pleasure to be enjoyed at will. Apparently American children and teenagers couldn't agree more.
A recent study conducted by Cyber Sentinel and reported by Fox News found that teenagers spend an average of 31 hours per week online and nearly 2 hours per week viewing pornography.
But that's not all...
One in four teenagers of the 1,000 polled said they regularly spoke to strangers online but thought it harmless. They spend some three and a half hours communicating with friends on MSN, and around two hours on YouTube and in chat rooms. Just over an hour is devoted to looking up cosmetic surgery procedures such as how to enlarge breasts and get collagen implants, an hour and a half is spent on family planning and pregnancy websites and one hour 35 minutes is spent investigating diets and weight loss. One in three admitted trying to hide what they were looking at if a parent entered the room. What effect is this exposure to adult-themed websites and pornography having on our children?
Sexual activity among even middle school aged children is at epidemic levels, and they're not stopping with the viewing of porn or even acting out the behavior their young minds are exposed to.
It seems they're producing their own amateur pornography.
An alarming new trend dubbed "sexting" is proving to be a nightmare for school administrators. Sexting involves young people taking photos of themselves in nude and semi-nude poses, and even engaging in sex acts, and then sending those photos via cell phones to their friends.
Right now six Falmouth, MA middle school students are facing felony charges for producing and possessing child pornography relating to an incident in which a boy took a nude photo of his 13 year old girlfriend and sent it to classmates.
The six boys, ages 12 to 14, will be summoned to Falmouth District Court for a hearing to determine whether they should be charged with possessing, exhibiting or distributing child porn in the form of a text message photo, according to The Cape Cod Times.
An isolated incident?
Not according to Wendy Murphy, who lectures on sex crimes at the New England School of Law, who said “sexting” almost has become an “epidemic.” Murphy said, “I know it seems heavy-handed to bring child porn charges. Law enforcement is using the only tool it has for what has become a huge problem nationwide.”
The number of news reports I've read on similar incidents would lead me to believe Ms. Murphy is not exaggerating at all.
Pornography has devastating effect on children who view it. Parents... PLEASE do not allow your children access to a computer with unfiltered internet access. Install blocking software like Net Nanny on any computer your kids will be using to access the internet.
Children are naturally curious. But consider also the very common scenario in which a child accidentally stumbles upon pornographic images while online. Even the fact that it was an accident cannot change the fact those images are burned into your child's consciousness. Forever.
