Shocking Children Know What is Fingertip Porn
By Walt Mueller
Oct. 5, 2009
Editor’s Note: Parents did you know that there is a study that shows that the largest group of viewers of Internet Porn. Which is very shocking are children between ages of 12 and 17.
Kids are being taught in school to learn about their bodies at a very earlier age. We need to get involved and learn what our children are learning in school. When you are watching TV and your child is on the computer. Do you know what they are looking at?
Here is an article that all parents need to read.
In your opinion, what’s the cultural change we should be most concerned about?” I was standing in front of a room full of parents and youth workers and the question came from the sponsoring youth worker at the start of the Q&A segment. “That’s a tough one,” I responded. Then, after scratching my head during a few moments of awkward silence, I answered. “As a husband, father of two girls and two boys, and a youth culture-watcher, I would have to say that one of the cultural changes that concerns me the most is the growing volume, pervasiveness and accessibility of online pornography. It’s shaping how an entire generation is thinking about themselves, about others and about the wonderful God-given gift of their sexuality. And to be honest, where I think it’s leading our kids is very, very frightening.”
With the amount of time kids are spending online increasing, parents should be aware of the prevalence and easy accessibility of pornography. When it comes to pornography, our teenage world was nowhere near the same as their teenage world. I was 12 years old, naïve and very curious when I was first exposed to pornography. I also was hiding and huddled behind a neighbor’s stone wall with four of my childhood friends. We knew we were doing something wrong and we feared getting caught. We spent half of our time nervously looking at the magazine. We spent the other half fearfully looking over our shoulders.
Today, even the youngest of our children—if they have access to a computer and know how to conduct an Internet search—have access to a world of online pornography that’s getting bigger every day. In cases where children have computers in their rooms and/or surf the Net without parental rules or supervision, the chances of them deliberately or accidentally accessing pornography are greater. Consider these facts on Internet pornography from ProtectKids.com: Two out of five Internet users visited an adult site in August 2005. There were 63.4 million unique visitors to adult Web sites in December 2005, reaching 37.2 percent of the Internet audience. As of 2006, there were 420 million pages of pornographic material on the Internet. The Internet pornography industry in the U.S. generates $13 billion in annual revenue ($97 billion worldwide!)—which is larger than the combined annual revenues of ABC, CBS and NBC. And perhaps most shocking, the largest group of viewers of Internet porn is children between the ages of 12 and 17.1 Curious about their developing bodies and sexuality, it’s not surprising that children and teens would be drawn to Internet pornography, especially since it’s so easily found. And, if they don’t find online pornography, online pornography just might find your kids. Not only is involvement in pornography wrong and a distortion of God’s wonderful gift of sexuality, but it has dangerous short- and long-term effects.
First, we can expect a growing number of kids to be exposed to pornography at younger and younger ages… while they are alone. With so many kids accessing the Internet on home computers in their bedrooms, they will find or be found by pornography in an environment void of adult supervision and interaction. Most parents won’t be responding because they just won’t know. No one will be there to tell them it’s dangerous and wrong. In many cases, it will shape their values and attitudes long before they experience the sexual feelings and urges that come with physical maturation.
Second, the envelope will continue to be stretched. When I was a kid the envelope was at a point where I was instructed not to use the word “pregnant” around my grandmother. To her, it was a dirty word. Not so anymore. While I don’t think a convincing case could be made to support my grandmother’s bias, her bias does serve as an example of how much things have changed. Sadly, in today’s word, yesterday’s hidden smut can be an everyday reality for young eyes, minds and hearts. Based on this pattern, tomorrow’s smut will be unimaginably more extreme than today’s.
Third, the more they see, the more desensitized they will become. In other words, sinful behavior no longer shocks. It’s become an everyday reality that is not at all surprising to them. In fact, what is surprising to our kids is that this stuff is alarming and surprising to us. In other words, expect your astonishment to be met by those words we hear all too often from our kids, “Mom, Dad, I’ve seen worse. You’re so old fashioned.”
Fourth, pornography use will increasingly be a matter of personal preference, and decreasingly be viewed as sin. Our postmodern environment has combined with the pervasiveness of pornography to create a world where if you want to look at it, that’s perfectly okay for you. Do whatever you feel like and whatever works for you.
And fifth, the sinful values and practices promoted in pornography will become normalized. I recently heard about a group of 10-year-old boys in the Southeast who were discovered by one’s mother as they took turns performing oral sex on one of their male classmates. The parents of the boys were stunned. Some of these kids were from Christian families. Where did they learn to do such a thing? When all the facts were known, one of the boys had discovered pornography on the Internet. Over time, he went deeper and deeper into some of the more extreme sites, all the while inviting his naturally curious young peers to look over his shoulder. Before long, they were doing what they had seen on the screen. After getting caught, they were bewildered as to why what they were doing was wrong. As time goes on, Internet pornography will shape and normalize youthful behavior, impacting how young people view and treat each other both now, and for the rest of their lives.
All of this adds up to create a situation that requires our parental awareness, diligence and ongoing attention. If we have no idea how and where our teens are spending their online time, we’re missing an opportunity to guide them away from the dangers of Internet pornography, and toward the joy of living within God’s will and God’s way. There are good reasons why the Apostle Paul warned Christ’s followers to avoid even “a hint of sexual immorality” (Ephesians 5:3). Our goal should be to teach teens how to be “imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1), steering them away from this horrible distortion of God’s wonderful gift of their sexuality.
©2008, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding. Used by Permission.
Editor’s Note: Walt Mueller is the founder and president of the Center for Parent Youth Understanding. A nonprofit ministry organization, that has served churches, schools, and community organizations worldwide for nearly twenty years. Walt is a respected author and popular speaker. He’s a sought-after authority on youth culture and family issues and has appeared on CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. 1 “Statistics” Protect Kids Page, n.d., www.protectkids.com, 3 March 2008. Visit The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding website.
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Source: Home Word