No one can deny that pornography is not aimed to be watched by children. It builds an unhealthy and unrealistic image of sexual relationships and, if seen at the age of 12 and younger, can be a cause of kids growing up as sex addicts and sexual deviants. In this article we will go through top ways how pornography harms children and possible ways how you can secure and protect kids from it.
Unhealthy relationships.
Both boys and girls who start watching porn build an unhealthy image of sexual relationships. Boys tend to think of a woman in a sexual way only, considering sex an easy game without responsibilities. Girls at the age of 10-14 who watch pornography are often said to build an entrusted image of men, having sexual thoughts before marriage.
Sexual predators.
The Internet has proven to be the best tool for online predators and pedophiles as they distribute child pornography and engage kids in sexually explicit conversations. Such kind of blackmail is now known as sextortion. The famous case of Amanda Todd included sexting and cyberbullying by an online predator who blackmailed the girl to put on a show lest he posts her nude pictures over the Internet. Sadly, it ended with the 15-year-old girl committing suicide.
Online predators’ victims are usually boys and girls at the age of 9-14. Predators usually find them through the Internet forums and chats under the profiles of young teens who have mutual hobbies with their victims. Forums and chats are now one of the easiest ways to get to children online. Kids use them to stay in contact with friends or even to receive their home assignments. Predators can chat with their victims from 1 to 6 months before meeting in real life.
Sexual violence.
Early exposure to pornography has been shown to make children victims of sexual violence or to become attackers themselves. 53% of child molesters confirmed that they had used pornography as stimuli to their attacks.
Below we included suggestions how you can control and secure your children from porn.
Monitor online activity. You can and should put parental controls on your child’s PC to block 18+ websites and see who your child is chatting with online. Since 80% of teens use smartphones to get online, you will need a mobile monitoring app as well. Take Pumpic app as an example, it allows you to block adult websites and mischievous contacts from reaching your child, as well as to monitor online activities and IM chats.
Religious education. It is proven that children who are religiously educated tend to build their relationships with an opposite sex in a non-sexual way. Learning the basics of Judaism will help your kids grow as mature individuals who value marriage and family.
Talk. There is nothing easier than having a conversation with your child. Ask if he/she has a friend who watches pornography or who asked him/her to send them pictures, videos and so on. This is a famous psychological trick when you get to know what your child already knows about the issue, and what kind of problems you will have to face in future.