Parents text content
Many parents worry about online porn - its easy availability, the nature of the content and the effects it can have on young people.
The good news is that, despite the worrying picture, there are things that parents can do that make all the difference.
Understanding why
Young people access pornography online for many reasons.
They may actively seek it out for pleasure, stumble across it as a result of another search, or be shown it by a friend.
All adolescents are likely to be curious about sex, and with pornography so easily accessible, it's natural they might use the internet to explore this.
Should I be worried?
For many young people, accessing pornography will have little or no impact on their long term development.
It is important to know, however, that pornography can have unhealthy consequences for young people.
What does science say?
There is now a substantial body of research into the impact of pornography on sexual attitudes and behaviours.
Read more about it on the NSPCC website
Parents text content
It's important that you're aware of what research has found about the potential impact of pornography on young people:
● Watching porn often makes real-world sex less enjoyable.
● Porn often makes people feel less happy in their relationships.
● Porn can lead people to think about sex a lot more. This can make it harder for them to enjoy their friendships and other interests.
● Porn can lead to people viewing others, especially women, as ‘sex objects’. This means we only see other people as things to have sex with, not as people with intelligence and feelings. This means we respect them less. Everyone gets less out of life and relationships if this happens.
● Over time, porn can shape the types of things you get turned on by. There’s some pretty weird porn out there so if you train your brain to be turned on by the things you see, you could have trouble enjoying real sex.
Parents text content
Can I stop them from viewing it in future?
Although you can never guarantee that your child won't be able to access pornography there are things you can do to control access within your home and on your child's devices.
There are many useful ‘parental control’ products which parents and carers can use to limit what their child is exposed to on the internet. You should consider using them to restrict access to pornography, particularly if you have younger children.
They come free with most contracts with UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs). You can find out how to set them up across all the devices in your home with this interactive guide from Internet Matters.
Remember, parental controls are only part of the solution. The best thing you can do is talk to your children about healthy relationships, maintain a trusting relationship and help them manage their thoughts and feelings about the things they might see online.
