In today’s world, there are many ways to keep our homes safe. There are state-of-the-art locks, video cameras, dogs, etc. But what keeps the predators out of the internet? We are so concerned about trying to live in safe neighborhoods that we forget that those tiny screens can be one of the biggest threats to our children and families.
In the 1990s pornography was introduced to the internet2. For the first time ever, someone did not have to go very far to have access to such material. When smartphones were invented, pornography soon went from being something you went down the block to get, to something at your fingertips. In 2021, the Semrush Blog did a study where they found that “porn sites receive more website traffic in the U.S. than Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, Pinterest, and LinkedIn combined”1. Now these porn sites are nothing to laugh at. If some pictures in a magazine could cause harm, imagine what a high-definition video can do3.
Just in 2019, “the top five porn websites in the world account for more than 6 billion visits per month, nearly one a month for every person on earth”4. It is not only the porn sites that are introducing our children to this content. It is in commercials, TV shows and movies, books, emails, social media platforms, etc. To make matters more complicated, children have been found to get exposed to pornography as young as 7 years old5.
So, what do we do about it?
Unfortunately, there is no way to completely keep our children away from pornography. What we can do is educate, educate, educate. If you are interested in researching how to teach your children about what to look out for and how to avoid porn, there are many resources that are tailored for each age group. Some of these resources include Internet Matters, Defend Young Minds, and 30 Days of Sex Talks.
If you want to get involved, you are not alone. There are many groups of parents out there who want to protect their children in the same way. One of those groups is Parents Who Fight.
Just remember, it starts with being open and honest with your children in an age-appropriate way. When your children are exposed to pornography, it will be much easier for them to speak to you if they know how to talk about it. Just take it one day at a time.
You got this!
Citations:
1 Semrush Blog. (2021). Top 100: The Most Visited websites in the US—2021 Top websites edition. Accessed on 24 May, 2021. Retrieved from https://www.semrush.com/blog/most-visited-websites/).
3 Price, J., Patterson, R., Regnerus, M., & Walley, J. (2016). How much more XXX is generation X consuming? evidence of changing attitudes and behaviors related to pornography since 1973.53(1), 12-20. doi:10.1080/00224499.2014.1003773
4 Castleman, M. (2018). Surprising new data from the World’s most popular porn site. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-sex/201803/surprising-new-data-the-world-s-most-popular-porn-site
5 British Board of Film Classification. (2020). Young people, pornography & age-verification. BBFC. Retrieved from https://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-classification/research