I would venture a guess that most kids don’t think that looking at porn has any lasting impact on their brain. It’s just another thing to watch like a sitcom. But recent research indicates otherwise. A report that came out of the Independent Parliamentary Inquiry Into Online Child Protection found that 25% of young patients at a leading private clinic are being treated for an addiction to online pornography. In addition journal of Mind and Adolescence found an association between the increase in sexual dysfunctions and sexual crimes to the increased availability to porn. Typically you hear of people being addicted to drugs or alcohol, not porn. But the impact of porn goes further.

Researchers Elizabeth Oddone-Paolucci, Mark Genuis and Claudio Violato from the Univeristy of Calgary put it this way, ”The results are clear and consistent; exposure to pornographic material puts one at an increased risk for developing sexually deviant tendencies, committing sexual offences, experiencing difficulties in one’s intimate relationships, and accepting the rape myth. In order to promote a healthy and stable society, it is time that we attend to the culmination of sound empirical research.”  I would say these are some risky side effects that kids are not thinking about when they pop up that porn site on their computer. Internet safety expert Sam Black had this to say when asked what do teens learn from porn. “More partners are better. Stable relationships must be boring. Novelty provides greater satisfaction. Over time the brain that feeds on erotic media is trained to equate sexual excitement with the novelty and variety of pornography.”

Pornography does have an impact on the brain and based on the research it’s not good. Most kids don’t know the risks they’re taking. They are uniformed. Most kids know the impact that smoking or doing drugs can have. Most kids know the impact the drinking can have. Society has done a pretty good job at getting this information out. But when it comes to the impact pornography can have on the brain society has done a lousy job of informing the masses. Parents, it’s up to us to get our kids the facts. If we don’t we’ll have a generation of porn addicts suffering from some serious side effects.