That hidden but horrifically pervasive problem facing both the church and society as a whole. Unfortunately, pornography is an issue that remains largely unaddressed even in the Christian world... never one to shy away from controversial topics, I found an opportunity to write a college research essay on this topic. Surprisingly, I got a decent amount of positive feedback from classmates who supported my choice to address this issue. It was really eye-opening to research the history, extent, and effect of this destructive habit on American youth.
What's The Problem With Porn?
The older generations of today can often be heard complaining about how Generation Z is addicted to their technology, however an even more disturbing trend that is often ignored is the use of this technology for sexual purposes – particularly through pornography. Before the modern Internet age, there were two big things that aided in protecting children from exposure to pornography: accessibility and affordability.
Prior to the Internet, the only way to access pornography was go to a store that sold/rented pornographic magazines and/or films, or get it from a middle-man, whether that be a family member, friend, or some other such contact. Because of this, it would have been rare to be able to access pornography for free. These two aspects would have made it difficult for anyone to access pornography and then support a growing pornography addiction… especially if you were young and below the 18-year-old minimum.
However, we are far past that period in history when pornography had it’s limits. These two concepts of availability and affordability that once made it difficult for children to get their hands on pornography are now two of the three concepts that contribute to the growing issue of porn, along with the idea of anonymity. Pornography is literally a single click away on the mini supercomputer located in everyone’s back pocket. “Currently, the individual simply has to type the word porn into a search engine and they will get millions of results that will show them sexually explicit material. Furthermore, there are no longer strict age restrictions on viewing pornography.” (Nufer 2017)
Pornography is now easily available to even the youngest members of our society, particularly as it often can be accessed for free without a subscription. Add to this, the feeling of anonymity when viewing porn on the Internet. It is no longer necessary to walk into a store and purchase it, or purchase it from ‘contacts.’ Internet pornography viewing is easier to keep secret from friends or family than the porn magazines and movies of yesteryear. In addition, the pornographic materials of today are created to be much more addicting to the viewer than historically. “A far cry from looking at a sensual magazine centerfold, today’s adolescents are viewing online pornographic videos with motions and sounds, depicting every potential sexual act that can be imagined.” (Amanda Giordano 2022)
All this has contributed to make pornography usage one of the most concerning aspects of Generation Z. According to PsychologyToday, the average age of children’s exposure to porn is around age eleven or twelve and is proven to have the potential to traumatize the viewer, as well as negatively affect them in other ways. “Exposure to pornography at a young age may lead to poor mental health, sexism and objectification, sexual violence, and other negative outcomes.” (UNICEF n.d.) There are also those who believe that the rise in suicide seen in Generation Z may be tied to the widespread usage of pornography. “I personally believe that it may very well also be at the core of so much suicide, as well as anxiety and depression, because of the shame that's associated with it. I think it's hard for those who want to find help to actually get help because of this shame component.” (Deming 2023) So is there any hope for Generation Z in their usage of pornography or is it all bad news?
“There does seem to be more public awareness about the dangers of pornography and the mental health issues, so my hope is that we continue to see a growing public awareness campaign around this.” (Deming 2023) As more and more studies are released on the effects of pornography on the brain and relationships, awareness is rising and parents are becoming more concerned for their child’s safety. There are now more protections, such as Covenant Eyes or Google Safesearch, available for parents to install on their children’s technology to block websites containing explicit materials and generate accountability reports that can flag suspicious sites. So all this to say, the answer is yes…there is hope for Gen-Z, along with future generations, but only if more people continue to be willing to have conversations about this topic.
Works Cited
UNICEF. Protection of children from the harmful impacts of pornography.
https://www.unicef.org/harmful-content-online (accessed 02 18, 2023).
Amanda Giordano, Ph.D., LPC,. What to Know About Adolescent Pornography Exposure. 02 27,
2022.https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understanding-addiction/202202/what-know-about-adolescent-pornography-exposure#:~:text=In%20addition%2C%20the%20average%20age,of%20sex%20and%20healthy%20sexuality. (accessed 02 18, 2023).
*Deming, Jean, interview by Jaela Deming. Concern for Gen-Z: Pornography Rosemount, MN, (02 19, 2023).
Nufer, Rebecca. "A Brief Background of Pornography and its Effects on Physical,
Psychological, and Emotional Health." Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Joural of Psychology 12, no. 1 (2017).
*For this blog, I interviewed my mom Jean Deming. She is a mother to six children between the ages of eight and twenty-four. She was a licensed daycare and foster care provider for many years, and is currently a standardized Peabody tester for homeschool students. In the past couple of years, she has personally counseled a couple Gen-Z'ers through situations directly or indirectly involving pornography.
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