Consider these staggering statistics from www.internetsafety101.org.
- Nearly 80 percent of unwanted exposure to pornography is taking place in the home (79 percent occurs in the home; 9 percent occurs at school; 7 percent other/unknown; 5 percent at a friend’s home)
- Porn Sites Get More Visitors Each Month Than Netflix, Amazon And Twitter Combined.
- 30% of the Internet industry is pornography.
- Mobile porn is expected to reach $2.8 billion by 2015.
- A Google Trends analysis indicates that searches for “Teen Porn” have more than tripled between 2005-2013. Total searches for teen-related porn reached an estimated 500,000 daily in March 201— one-third of total daily searches for pornographic web sites.
- Of the 304 scenes analyzed, 88.2% contained physical aggression, principally spanking, gagging, and slapping, while 48.7% of scenes contained verbal aggression, primarily name-calling.
- Youth who look at violent x-rated material are six times more likely to report forcing someone to do something sexual online or in-person versus youth not exposed to x-rated material.
- A study in the southeastern U.S. found that 53 percent of boys and 28 percent of girls (ages 12-15) reported use of sexually explicit media. The Internet was the most popular forum for viewing.
- The words "sex" and "porn" rank fourth and sixth among the top ten most popular search terms.
- Roughly two-thirds (67 percent) of young men and one-half (49 percent) of young women agree that viewing pornography is acceptable.
- Nearly 9 out of 10 (87 percent) young men and 1 out of 3 (31 percent) young women report using pornography.
When I was growing up, gaining access to pornography was much harder than it is today. Now we are just one click away from utter crap anytime we visit the internet. But the internet is not the only place where they are in danger. Cable television brings plenty of raw sewage into the home as well. As parents we have a duty to prepare our kids for the sewer system that is trying to flood their lives.
Parents: do your kids have a television in their room? A computer? Do they have mobile devices? If yes, how are you protecting them from the raw sewage that threatens to spew into their lives?
Here are four things parents need to do:
- Talk to them about it. That may sound to simple but having conversations with your kids on a regular basis is key to plugging the sewer pipe into their lives. They need to know where you stand and need to hear about how destructive it is. If you are not sure just how destructive, you can read about it HERE and HERE.
- Keep computers in an open area, not in bedrooms. And while yore at it, maybe it would be good to get the TV out of there too. Set rules and guidelines for usage. If you are talking to them about the dangers lurking online, they will understand why you are doing it.
- Install monitoring and filter programs on computers and devices. There are many options out there these days. Our family uses Qustodio which has a free version that is upgradable and only costs about $30-$50 per year. They also have mobile apps for Android and iOS. You can also check out Covenant Eyes.
- Have regular family devotions with your kids. Get the word in them and point them to Jesus. Pray with them and for them. The best hope they have in fighting porn and other temptations is a relationship with Jesus.
Here are some other good articles that offer excellent insight and advice.
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