http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/02/05/kids.online.porn.ap/index.html
This article studies and spoke of how unwanted internet porn is reaching too many of our children’s viewing pleasures.
Some outrageous percentages are shown through out this article concerning teens accidentally coming across pornography while simply just using a search engine or surfing through websites with unwanted links. 42 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 17 admit they have viewed internet pornography within a 12 month span. Of that 42 %, 66% said they had viewed the pornography by accident. When asked about the situation most kids and teens just brush it off, saying that they see these images all the time. This article defines pornography as either naked people or people having sex. It seems that most of the youth here in America is so exposed that they have become desensitized to the mental effects of porn. The question then arises, is it a problem? The only problem defined in the article is that internet porn may skew what younger kids believe healthy sex is. A psychiatrist Sharon Hirsch, states that it may speed up teens involvement in sexual exploration or even lead to problems with sexual predators, but to me, that depends on the kid and how they are taught to act. Viewing some pornography and meeting up with a random stranger you meet online, are two totally different things. In my mind, its bad parenting if your children have no problem meeting some one they met on a porn page, because no one in their right mind would ever meet a strange person in that sense, unless they weren’t taught decency and common sense. What do you all think?
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3 comments:
I think that kids "stumbling" upon porn on the net is something that quite possibly will never be avoided. I do agree with you in the sense that it depends on how they were brought up on how they look at the porn (or how long they look at it) and what their inturn reaction might be. Just because they see it does not necessarily mean that they are going to try to emmulate it. However, it is the parents' responsibility to make sure that they know what their kids are looking at while they are on the net. When I was younger my dad made sure that he took full advantage of his parental controlls (both on the net and on tv) and he would block anything he felt was un-appropriate for me or my lil sister. He made sure we had limited access to the net and what things we could "search". With the world today, there is not much that kids won't learn about at any age, it's just the way they are taught to deal with it (and the way they actually deal with it) that will make the difference. You shouldn't shelter your kids. The more you teach them yourself the less you have to worry about them learning from others. If you tell them about it, they might not feel like they have to learn or experience it on their own.
It is amazing how many of those sites pop up even with pop blockers it happens. Not only that but the junk mail that these websites receives, especially yahoo. But I do agree with you, I think that it all has to do with morals and also the mind of a child. Parents (I hope) should know the capacity of their childs mind. For instance if you know that your child is of a weak mind why would you allow him/her to surf the web unsupervised and chat. And not warn them about the potentail hazards of the online world. I remember getting my own computer in middle school. The computer was not placed within my room (my mother thought I would never come out of there if she did that) and I had aol which we all know would kick you out if you would "type inappropriate material". But other than my mother making sure that their was a parental block on the computer she spoke to me of the dangers of stangers online and of the normal street (the whole do not speak to strangers. The pornograph may not be prevented but the meet strangers outside of the online world can be. It all starts out with the parents.
This is definitely something that will not be avoided until the government decides to do their usual routine and try to put some sanction against Internet porn. Since the porn industry is such a flourishing and lucrative business, that most likely won't happen. I know its impossible for parents to monitor their children 24/7, and even though the article mentioned how the filters still let some porn images arise, parents need to be the number one combatant. The media in general has become so risque, that its not a huge surprise these kids have become desensitized to seeing the porn. This issue is about personal ethics and what parents will allow their children to knowingly be exposed to.
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