More on the effects of cyber porn on children!

Computer porn exposure for kids grows as Internet becomes more dominate

Submitted by Dave Masko on 2011-08-13

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EUGENE, Ore. – That’s 11-year-old Jimmy sitting over there in the corner giggling after Googling porn; and that’s Jimmy losing his innocence along with millions of other teens and pre-teens in America today, say experts who warn of the mental health effects of regular porn exposure on youth.

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Based on a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children survey, “only a small percentage of kids seek out pornography on purpose, and most respond appropriately by quickly leaving the site, though few report such incidents to parents,” stated Dr. Lynn Margolies on her website that focuses on the growing trend of youth looking at porn online. Moreover, “if you feel that you have to use some sort of computer program to surreptitiously monitor your child’s social networking, you are wasting your time. Your child will find a workaround in a matter of minutes,” explained California State University social media researcher Larry Rosen during a recent MSNBC TV report; while also stating that “you have to start talking about appropriate technology use early and often and build trust, so that when there is a problem, whether it is being bullied or seeing a disturbing image, your child will talk to you about it.”
Children are hurt and exposed to porn and other social ills online
Simply put, too much Facebook and online time is bad for teens. This is according to Larry Rosen, a social media researcher at California State University, who presented report on “digital natives” at the Aug. 6 American Psychological Association meeting in Washington D.C. In turn, MSNBC reported Aug. 7 that “today’s teens and college students are what researchers call ‘digital natives, or the ‘iGeneration,’ a generation constantly connected to the Internet and Facebook, texting and instant messaging." Now, a set of new studies reveals the psychological and negative health effects of constant Facebooking and other online ills.
At the same time, Rosen noted how Facebook is taking over the lives of many youth who already spend too much time online.
“I know our Jimmy was exposed to porn online, and something has to be done,” states the Eugene mother of this 11-year-old during a recent parents open house at a local school where “constant exposure to the Internet” is now viewed as a major health scare for some parents.
In turn, Rosen told mental health experts in Washington, D.C., recently that his research shows how constant “Facebook exposure is not only bad,” but teens who use Facebook and other social media on a regular basis “show more narcissistic tendencies.”
Children exposed to constant porn during their online surfing
Dr. Lynn Margolies, who presents her views about the dangers of porn for children on her website, asks “what should parents do when they discover that their young teen or pre-teen has been looking at pornography sites online?” This Ph.D warns that “exposure to sexually explicit content online can occur very easily through a misdirected ‘google’ search using an innocent word such as ‘toy,’ or a misspelled word or URL.”
In turn, Doctor Margolies advises parents to evaluate “what it means that your child is viewing sexually explicit material, before reacting or drawing conclusions.”
However, the doctor does warn that “viewing pornography, especially in an ongoing way, can have potentially detrimental effect on children, and may be motivated or perpetuated by loneliness, isolation and compulsion.”
In turn, 11-year-old Jimmy’s mother in the Eugene group of concerned “online parents,” admitted that “many parents do not spend time with their kids and, instead, give them unlimited access to the Internet. It’s become a sort of babysitter for parents I know. They even joke about equipping their kids with iPhone and iPads and ‘anything and everything’ to get them off their back. It’s no surprise that kids are locking themselves in their rooms and watching porn or other horrors to deal with this rejection,” she said.
Children exposed to massive amounts of online porn in an adult run cyber space
A recent University of New Hampshire study showed that “42 percent of Internet users aged 10 to 17 surveyed said they had seen online porn in the past year. Of those, 66 percent said they did not want to view these adult only images but did so because they’re parents, or other family members had easy access to these porn sites.
“It’s beyond the wild West out there. You’ve really taken away the age of innocence with the Internet,” explained Dr. Michael Wasserman, a pediatrician with the Ochsner Clinic in Metairie, La., who was involved in a recent study of what children are doing with all their “online” Internet time.
Pornography addiction, or the overuse of porn is a real health issue, state experts who worry about “sexual dysfunction and sexual behavioral addiction” impacting youth as they view more and more porn on line that’s non-stop 24/7 in our American society.
Children bombarded with online porn, and parents don't seem to notice
A recent CBS TV News report on the growing viewing of porn by Internet users aged 10 to 17 “found that one in seven had received ‘unwanted sexual solicitations or approaches in the past year.”
“We need to protect our kids from porn and predators, and allowing them to communicate with adults on Facebook and the Internet is not the answer. We have to question is everything on the Internet and Facebook good for our kids? Some parents don’t even ask these questions,” said another parent involved in stopping kids from viewing porn on line.
"It comes as no surprise that teens are exposed to both wanted and unwanted sexual material online. That's all the more reason for parents to keep in close touch with their kids, keep computers in a central area of the house and – if necessary – use parental control software that blocks inappropriate sites," said in a recent report that “online CBS News technology analyst Larry Magid use that put kids at the highest risk for unwanted exposure to pornography was using file-sharing programs to download images.”
Lawmakers trying to stop kids from viewing porn online
According to the website Politico, new legislation seeks to clamp down on online child porn. The bill is being supported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and asks, among other things, that parents to help stop their kids from accessing Internet porn that their parents and others also view in their homes and even at schools and public libraries.
The bucks stops with parents who allow “their kids to view porn online,” asserted one parent here in Eugene.
Still, this same parent admitted that part of the problem with kids viewing porn online is the social isolation that comes from being online all the time. One parent even noted that kids today are “inside of their computers,” and, thus, “not outside with their family and friends.” Being “inside” with that computer is why they’re viewing all this porn, the parent added.
Image source of a 19th French ad warning of society’s exposure to porn: Wikipedia