Porn Addiction Among Teens – Here is What Every Parent Must Do

Pornography is addictive, and with the easy access to the internet, an elevated rate of teenagers are getting allured by adult content. The potency of finding explicit content online either by accident or with a deliberate search is very high.

The prevalence of pornographic content has made every parent worried about its side effects on their kids.

Obviously, no parent would like their underage kid to watch explicit content and develop an addiction towards it. It is challenging for parents to navigate the porn addiction among teens debate on the adverse effects of pornography with kids.

If you are uncertain about whether or not your child watches pornographic content online, then this article might help you.

Here, we are going to discuss the signs of porn addiction, the negative impact on teens’ health, and solutions to combat porn addiction among children.

So, let’s get started.

Porn Addiction Among Teens – What Is It?

Porn addiction is developing an uncontrollable habit to watch sexually explicit content. Unfortunately, teenagers get allured and addicted to pornographic content just because it triggers euphoria.

Well, kids being enslaved to explicit content is never right.

Here are some statistics on teens’ porn addiction.

• The average age of kids getting exposed to sexually explicit content is 11.
• Teens get exposed to sexually explicit content before the age of 18. A great number of boys and girls, 93% and 62% respectively, watch pornography.
• 67% of the kids clear their online search history after watching porn.
• Every 100 top websites on the internet include 2 porn sites.
• There are 25 million pornographic websites available, making it 12% of the internet space.
• 40% of the Americans daily visit a porn site.
• Search engines receive 70 million queries related to pornography every day.

According to the famous cybersecurity company McAfee, teenagers deliberately access inappropriate content online.

Daunting. Isn’t it?

Well, as a parent, you can tell if your child watches pornographic content by observing their behaviour.

Let’s find out some prominent signs of porn addiction in teens.

READ ALSO: Forbidden Games – Here is How Your Kids are Getting Exploited

Porn Addiction Among Teens – What Are the Signs?

If your child is struggling with porn addiction, you can help him/her combat such a dependence. But, for that, you need to observe the following signs to make sure your child searches for explicit sexual content online.

• Your child sneaks every time he/she feels the urge to watch porn.
• There is a probability that your kid stays up all night watching inappropriate content.
• Agitation when no internet network is available.
• Continuing efforts to find a hiding hole or to isolate themselves.
• Depression, anxiety, irritability.
• Use of hypersexual vocabulary and behaviour.
• Overprotectiveness towards personal digital devices.

It is better to detect such signs among your teens. Parents can help kids overcome addiction to watch adult content.

Before we reveal effectual ways to help children overcome addiction towards evil content, let’s have a look at some negative side effects of porn on kids’ mental health.

Adverse Effects of Porn on Mental Health of Kids:

Kids who feel the urge to view adult content start to live in fantasies. Without knowing the side effects, teens develop a habit to watch sexually explicit content when alone. Parents must take notice when they find their kids staying up late or spending too much time in isolation.

If you don’t know how porn can harm the mental health of your child, here are some prominent adverse effects.

According to research, teens who watch pornographic content can develop;

• Impractical sexual beliefs.
• Obsession of sex.
• Sexually permissive behaviour.
• Sexual aggression.
• Immoral attitude.
• Early want to have sex.
• Insecurity
• Bonding or connecting issues.

Watching too much explicit content can make anyone live in an unrealistic world. For parents, it is terrifying to see their kids having uncontrolled urges to have sex.

But, no worries.

Parents can still help their teens to combat porn dependence.

How Can Parents Help Their Children Overcome Porn Addiction?

It is significant for every parent to view what their kids do online. If you find your child doing suspicious activities, it’s time to take notice. As most of us are working parents who can’t find enough time to get along with their kids. Things become messy when you are not around your child.

However, if your teens find joy in watching explicit content, you should help him/her combat such a menace.

Here are a few tactics that will assist you save your child from porn addiction.

Restrict the Use of Technology:

Technology itself isn’t wicked. But the unfiltered world associated with the technology can have harmful consequences. Giving your child unrestricted and unsupervised access to smartphones and the internet can make them dig into the dark side of the online world. Pornographic content can come accidentally, or your child can search porn out of curiosity. That is why it is vital to limit technology use for kids. Parents should allow their teens to use mobile devices for only a limited time. There are several parental control programs available that help parents to limit the mobile use of their children. TheWiSpy is the most demanding parental control app in the world. You can get it from the official website and control the mobile and internet usage of your kids anytime you want.

Stress Management:

Stress can make children do unlawful activities, and watching porn can be due to elevated stress levels. As mentioned before, kids experience a euphoric state when viewing such sort of content. It is hormones that trigger the ecstatic state.

However, watching sexually explicit content is not justified, whether you are feeling stressed or sad. Parents must teach their children about stress management so that whatever the situation is, kids never take the filthy road of watching inappropriate content.

Talk About The Menace:

We live in a modern era where if you don’t open up about sensitive topics with your kids, someone else will do. It is significant to talk about sexual health when your children reach a certain age.

According to a researcher, J. Dennis Fortenberry, there are four zones of sexuality that parents can discuss with their kids. Such sexuality areas include; desire, arousal, behaviour, and functioning. Unfortunately, pornographic content triggers them all, resulting in the addiction of inappropriate content. Parents must talk about the side effects of inappropriate content with their growing kids. You must tell your kids why they should avoid sexually explicit content. Otherwise, they will get attracted to it and develop a dependency.

Tell Your Kids What Things Are Necessary in Life:

Significantly, your child can differentiate between wants and needs. If we observe keenly, needs include things without which our life can sustain. Air, water, food, etc. all come in the need category. On the other hand, what we want is only a temporary demand. Teens must know that any sort of addiction falls in the class of want, not need. When it comes to watching pornography, sexual hunger is triggered between kids making them addicted to such content. It is necessary that children must know that their life can not depend on watching explicit videos/images online.

Use A Cell Phone Monitoring App:

Living in today’s digital world, we can control anything with the help of technology. Parents can control the mobile screens and internet usage of their kids using a cell phone monitoring app. By restricting the inappropriate content, you can make sure that your loved ones are safe from the menace of pornography. Apps like TheWiSpy provides robust parental control and kids’ monitoring features that allow you to block porn sites from the screens of your children.

The Final Words:

Pornography or any other sexually explicit content is addictive, especially for kids. If your children encounter such content accidentally, it might destroy their mentality. It is observed that teens deliberately search for pornographic content. No parent wants their kids to get exploited by the darkness of the internet. That is where parental control apps come to the rescue. Parental control apps effectively restrict the online space of kids in no time.

Isn’t it a great option?