Parenting Challenges; When Teens Search for Porn

In December, 2009 Symantec published an article, Kids Top 100 Searches of 2009, that showed the 4th most popular search for kids 7 and under was porn. With that statistic by the time kids become teenagers they will be as used to porn as blueberry muffins. As is, porn is the 5th most popular search for teens and boys are leading the parade. So how are today's parent attempting to guide their teen through this minefield of porn and help them stay safe, educated, respected and morally sound?

This issue of porn divides the parental community and they each square off to handle the situation in the best way they know how. In one corner we have parents who are adamantly against allowing their teen to view adult material, citing consequences and disciplinary action. One mother said, "If he used my computer I would definitely ban him from using it again because of viruses. Then maybe have his dad talk to him about how porn is different from the real thing and go over the sex talk again."

In the other corner we have parents who may not necessarily like that their teen is surfing the web for porn but don't feel it is something they should monitor. Many parents said they would be more surprised if their teenage sons weren't looking at pornographic images but were equally concerned that keeping communication going with their teen in regards to porn is an important factor.

Regardless of stance, all parents are confronted with the issue of porn at some point. Gone are the days of grounding and restricting because kids are required to use school computers with internet access on them. Almost every teenage has a cell phone with the capability to download and share digital media and sexting has become commonplace. In an interview with Jessica Lussenhop of Metro Active, 18 year old Chris says, "in Junior High I started printing out porn and bringing it to school. I don't even know why."

In that same interview one of "Chris's" buddies claims to have over 140 gigabytes of porn on his computer that he planned to load onto an external hard drive to pass around to all of his friends.

An Apple photo sharing app became extremely popular amongst teens when teenage girls began taking explicit pictures of themselves and uploading them through the app. Other teens could then vote on their favorite. Although this particular app was never intended for pornographic use these are the types of devices and services that teens favor specifically because of their ability to to be risque.

With USB flashsticks and Apple iPods everywhere you turn the battle against pornography that republicans of the 1990's fought to abolish has just become a nuclear explosion.

The good news or bad news depending on which corner you're coming from is that experts do have some recommendations for parents of teens who search for internet porn. Dr. Lynn Margolies, a child psycologist has some good, sound advice that applies to all parents despite whatever stance you take in regards to your teenager viewing pornography. She advises;

1. Stay calm.
2. Don't be judgemental and condescending.
3. Don't threaten to give lie detector tests or try to trick them into confessing
4. Be frank and honest
5. Explain what some of the dangers are such as the possibility of computer viruses or illegal activity.
6. Teach teens to protect themselves from being the victim of an internet predator.

All the statistics and reports and studies that are being conducted about teens and internet porn all lead to one question. Is there really a way to stop it? As our society continues to progress and technology continues to develop in the vein that it is currently developing will we be able to limit big corporations from making internet porn so easily accessible to our children? As Chris stated in his Metro Active interview, "Ease of access is nice. It definitely is nice."

Sources:Kids Top 100 Searches of 2009 by Symantech
Teens and Porn by Jessica Lussenhop of Metro Active
Psychologically Speaking by Dr. Lynn Margolies