Students vs. Porn (1 of 4)

This 4-part blog series is meant for parents with children of all ages. I've seen firsthand the destructive consequences that pornography has on children, teens, and adults today. Over the next 4 days I will be passing along some statistics, facts, advice, and tips of the dangers pornography has on our students.

Pornography
Most parents think their kids are immune to the dangers online… that they are too innocent, too smart or too “good” to get involved with pornography, but ultimately any child could get caught up in pornography use.  The content that kids are accessing today is far more graphic, violent, deviant and destructive than the pornography that you or I may have encountered when we were young, and no child is emotionally or mentally prepared to deal with this content.  It is your responsibility as the parent to protect your children to the best of your ability.

How are kids accessing pornography?

• Internet pornography is free and easy for kids to access and most porn sites have hardcore content on the homepage.
• There is little to no age-verification to prevent a curious child from entering a porn site.
• Pornographers also use a variety of deceptive marketing tactics, so even if your child is not looking for pornography, it’s more likely than not that they can accidentally access pornography through a misspelled word or through clicking on an innocent-looking link.  
• Some pornography is even associated with popular cartoon characters and teen icons, so a child searching for their favorite celebrity may accidentally come across hardcore pornographic content that way.  
• Additionally, we are seeing an increase in the amount of cross-marketing between online gaming and the pornography industry; be aware that mature video games may include virtual pornography, sex acts and other inappropriate content, so always check the game ratings before allowing your kids to play.  
• Kids can also encounter pornography on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, where porn stars or individuals with naked pictures of themselves may message or tweet at a teen to get their attention and expose them to pornographic content.  
• Finally, a new market is emerging for mobile pornography; your child could have easy access through their mobile device or through pornographic apps, so check up on their mobile Internet usage.

Regardless of how a kid may have accessed pornography, recognize that all kids are curious about sex, and a simple way for kids to learn more about sex is to go online.  If you aren’t using filters on your computer or your child’s mobile device, chances are, they could learn some pretty upsetting information about sex through online pornography.

Perfect example: about a month ago I was laying on my couch watching TV with my wife Jackie. I was checking my Twitter and had a direct message from someone I didn't know. In this message this person asked a question about my faith and then had a link to click on. So, naturally, I clicked it, and, to my surprise, it was a pornographic site. I immediately showed Jackie so she didn't think I was viewing porn on my phone. I then showed her the message, and we both agreed it looked 100% legitimate and innocent.
Trust me, if this happened to me, then it's happening every single day to millions of students around the world!
The next 3 days I will talk about  Pornography’s harmful messages, Warning Signs, and Parent Tips.
My hope and prayer is that if you are a parent of a child of any age that you'll read these posts each day. Don't worry, the other 3 will be shorter. :-)