Avoiding Internet Pornography

Pornography is a multi billion dollar industry. There is a constant production of lewd movies, images & sex tools because there is so much worldwide demand for it. The advancement of internet technology allows pornographic streaming videos to be downloaded quickly from the internet onto computers & hand held devices.

Pornography is considered as Adult entertainment & deemed normal by liberal minded people. However, child pornography is illegal & scorned. All actors in a pornography production must be over the legal age of 18 years old. Also, people below 18 years of age are not allowed (albeit minimally enforced) to view pornography both online & in the real world.

Could the ease of exposure to internet pornography contribute to young children becoming sexually active? Recent statistics shows that 9 out of 10 children between the age of 8 and 16 actually visit pornographic sites over the internet. There have also been stories of children engaging in co-ed sex parties & orgies. It suggests that internet pornography is playing a part in building sexual curiosity in children at such an early age. Is it what we want for our children? Small children are human beings too and can also be naturally aroused sexually. However, children are more susceptible to misunderstand the complexities associated with performing sexual activities like pregnancy & sexually transmitted diseases (S.T.D.).

It is in reality not the problem of children actually visiting pornographic websites but instead lies in the issue of them being accidentally directed to such "adult"� websites. A recent survey done by the University of Hampshire achieved similar results. "66 percent said that they did not want to view the images & had not sought them out"�, said the researcher.

A pornographic website may even be only a mouse click away. Banners, links, spam emails & other forms of online marketing are being misused as tools to lure even the most innocent of internet users. There are ways to prohibit pornographic content from being displayed even in the event of an accidental mouse click.

Commercial softwares termed Parental Control Softwares like Cyber Sentinel, Cyber Snoop, ishield, Net Nanny 5, & Optenet are able to filter images & advertisements of pornographic nature. It can help in such a way to prevent our children from being led into pornographic websites.

However, parental control softwares are still unable to fully prevent online pornography from being presented to our children online. More & better measures are required to restrict the use of sophisticated methods of online pornography marketing.

Therefore, parents should play an active role in educating their children about the consequences of viewing internet pornography. We should inform our children & show them about what they can & should not do on the internet. Also, inform them to question their actions before clicking on seductive advertisements which may lead them to the illicit pornographic websites.