Currently, more than half of children between 8-17 have been exposed to sex or sexual content like video, audio, and images.
Pornography is a crucial issue young adults and children face today. According to research, at the end of every high or secondary school level, children should note that a picture or visual presentation of pornography will simply damage the way they see themselves, and their behaviors towards the opposite sex.
How do children get exposed to pornography?
Children or young adults are exposed to online pornography intentionally or unintentionally. Nowadays, children as young as 8 can own a smartphone. They are usually the victims of unintentional pornography exposure. This can happen in the following ways;
- Mistyping a website address
- Searching a word with sexual meaning
- Receiving pornographic spam emails or messages
- Coming across pornographic adverts on some websites
Children who intentionally search for pornographic content online are usually 15-17 years old and are mostly high school students. They usually search pornographic contents online after they overheard a friend talk about it.
Experts have explained that about 89% of children looking up sexual content online are usually 14 years and above.
Impact of pornography on children and young adults
The effects of porn on children and young adults are worse than you can imagine. Children exposed to porn have their brains and thinking rewired at a tender age, and that may go a long way to harm them. As they grow older, they believe that sex must be practiced just exactly as it is in pornographic videos xxx.
As they get older, their sexual feelings become altered negatively. Some believe that sex must be enjoyed in pain, some believe they must see their partner in pain for them to enjoy sex. To others, sex must be enjoyed with more than one person at a time, while others view sex in different ways.
These are some of the negative impacts of being exposed to porn at a very tender age. Due to the explicit images, children see online, when they grow older, they expect their partner to have the same type of body and physical appearance their favorite online model has.
How to stop children from being exposed to pornography
While this may be a difficult issue to to tackle especially as a busy parent, a few ideas can help reduce the chances of your child getting exposed to pornography at an early stage.
- Limit the usage of smartphones and computers
In recent times, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, classes have been scheduled to hold online. This is to say that your child will attend classes from the comfort of their homes and just need a smartphone or computer.
As a parent or guardian, it is your responsibility to know what your child/ward does with these devices, and they must return the phone and shut down the computers after using them for academic purposes.
- Check their browsing history
Paying close attention to what your children do with their phones and gadgets should be your top priority. Going through their browsing history goes a long way to preventing them from gaining access to online explicit content.
- Pay attention to whom they chat with
From time to time, go through your child’s chat history. It can be a group chat or personal chats with people. It is important to know what they chat about, and the kind of files they share on the group and personal chats.
- Ask them questions when they get back from school
Having a good conversation and allowing your child to open to you creates a strong child-parent bonding. This way, you ask them questions about how their day went, what happened in school, and what was discussed in school and with friends. This way you understand the type of friends your child relates to within school.
Conclusion
Children are curious beings and like to explore. It is how nature made it. This is why it’s so important to pay close attention to the activities of your children at every point in time. As a parent, having personal discussions with your child’s teacher helps to prevent your child from being exposed to explicit content.