Online pornography is so rampant and easily accessible nowadays that a new study revealed children as young as 10 until the age of 15 have seen clips relating to the matter. A research study of adolescents in the United Kingdom by Middlesex University confirmed this statistic.
Those children have seen online pornography by accident and not purposefully, The Huffington Post reports. Nonetheless, of the 1001 children asked to participate in the study, 46 percent said that they searched for online pornography actively.
Online pornography reportedly has more negative effects on children's mental well-being as it also influences how they act or how they behave when in a relationship. The study by Middlesex said that the children who viewed online pornography had mixed emotions such as confusion, curiosity and shock. Younger children also felt depressed and disturbed.
Children who are curious about sexual matters tend to go online and look for it there since the Internet provides a degree of being anonymous, according to Psychology Today. It is also very accessible now and affordable since most of the online pornography sites are free of charge. Although these children would like to know more about sexual education, they would be directed to adult sexual entertainment and pornography.
When they enter into their adolescence, children exposed to pornography will tend to have sexual relationships, as multiple partner and will most likely hold sexually liberal attitudes as well as casual sex. Others would just imitate what they saw or ask a partner to perform what they saw through online pornography video.
It is advised that children should be given more comprehensive sex education programs so as to lessen their curiosity. Parents should also do their part by being more aware of what these children are looking up on the internet. Blocking pornographic websites is one way and another is reducing the time spent on the Internet.
