NURTURE
Scourge
By Song Shandong
The
of Internet
Several recent studies
have discovered that
our teenagers are using
pornography to find
out more information
about real-life sex.
Unfortunately, this has
incredibly undesirable
consequences on their
real-life behaviour, as
Song finds out.
Porn
It might be a surprise to all just how
early porn exposure begins. People
tend to think that it is targeted at
adults. But, the truth is, the majority
of us have our first experience of
viewing porn when we are, on average,
11-years-old, and almost everyone
gets an eyeful of naked bodies well
before the age of 18.
desire for learning more about sex
grows stronger.
Children are extremely vulnerable
to porn. To begin with, children are
naturally curious about how sex and
are always eager to learn where
babies come from and what are the
differences between boys and girls.
When they grow older and ascend
into teenage-hood, their hormones
predictably rise. Consequently, their
The level of sex education in most
Asian families almost never satisfies
children’s needs and they begin
learning about sex from other
avenues, whether it be from friends or
the media.
Unfortunately, in a conservative home
environment, kids learn quickly that
the subject is off limits once they try
to talk about sex or porn with their
parents, who always try to avoid the
topic.
If parents are not there to resolve
the porn issue with their children,
the dominoes begin to fall: emotional
closeness between children and their
parents begins to crumble; children
might develop unnecessary shame
of their interest in sex, which will
possibly in turn, fuel their desire for
porn.
And in our digital world now, Internetdelivered porn can easily find a way to
influence children. In fact, premature
exposure to sexual material actually
meant for adults is rapidly becoming a
huge problem.
Today, more kids are stumbling
across porn on the Internet. After all,
there are more than 400 million pages
of pornography on the Internet!
Decades ago, we needed to look for vendors to buy porn videos and magazines. Back then, we
needed time, money and energy to find porn; today, however, we need time, money and energy
to avoid porn, especially on the Internet. With unsolicited e-mails, deceptive links and pop-up
windows, porn can easily make its way into our lives. The omnipresence of porn has more of an
opportunity to become something of significance.
• ONE OUT OF FOUR KIDS WHO HAVE INTERNET ACCESS
EXPERIENCE ACCIDENTAL EXPOSURE TO PORN.
DOPAMINE
Family & Life • Apr 2014
SEROTONIN
16
Unfortunately, by overloading
your brain with pleasure
chemicals, porn reduces your
body’s natural ability to produce and
effectively release them under normal
life circu mstances. If you have been
watching porn regularly to ease yourself,
withdrawal from it will produce feelings
of agitation or depression. In fact, people
in porn recovery take an average of eighteen
months to heal from the damage to their
dopamine receptors alone.
ADRENALINE
• STUDIES SHOW THAT ABOUT HALF THE MEN AND
ONE-TENTH OF THE WOMEN WHO ARE EXPOSED
TO PORNOGRAPHY IN CHILDHOOD GO ON TO USE IT
REGULARLY AS ADULTS.
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR BRAIN ON PORN
When people get sexually aroused,
dopamine is released in the brain. Porn
evokes the production of dopamine,
which then surges in our system.
Meanwhile, production of other
pleasure chemicals in the brain
increases as well, including
endorphins, adrenaline and
serotonin. Watching porn
could produce experiences of
excitement, relaxation, and escape
from pain. Over time, one can easily
come to depend on porn to make
oneself feel good and to escape
from negative feelings.
ENDORPHINS
• 90% OF THE CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF EIGHTAND 16-YEARS-OLD REPORT THAT THEY HAVE VIEWED
PORN ONLINE.
The more deeply one is involved with porn, the more negative the consequences that are likely
to occur. Porn is delivered in ways that encourage addiction, and the impact of addiction can be
explained in scientific terms.