The Misuse of the Internet for Pornography

By: Jordan Barker

In today’s society, the Internet plays a vital role in almost everything people do. From looking up vocabulary words to places we want to go, it is used multiple times a day; however, not everybody is using the Internet for what they should be.

 Pornography has become much more popular since the invention of the Internet, especially with the invention of the “smart phone.” Nowadays, anybody that has access to the Internet can go look up whatever they please which tends to be pornography a lot of the time. As of 2006, the amount of daily pornography searches was at 68 million, which is 25% of all the daily searches in the United States.[1] With the access of the Internet becoming more available, the number of searches will continuously raise. 

I believe the use of the Internet to look up porn is wrong. Pornography sends out a bad message to people because of the way it portrays men and women in the videos. I have grown up being taught that pornography is wrong and as I got older and began to form an opinion of my own, I continued to believe this because of the ways in which it violates my Christian beliefs. The access of the Internet should be monitored when it comes to web searches such as pornography because it is immoral and way too easy to come by. I think the Internet is a great tool and it helps in many ways, but there also needs to be restrictions when it comes to things such as pornography.

According to Carroll et al, “a recent study found that seven out of ten youth have been unwillingly exposed to pornography in the United States.”[2] Do parents know what their children are being exposed to? Is this what we want our emerging leaders to be looking at?  Too many times people will go to a website and get an annoying pop-up with a sexual ad on it.  This can lead to unwilling exposure, which could in turn lead to an immoral addiction. The worldwide web, a tool that should be used for good, not bad, fuels all of this.   

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[1] Internet Filter Review, "Internet pornography statistics." Last modified 2006. Accessed January 30, 2014. http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html.

[2] J.S., Carroll, Padilla-Walker L.M., Nelson L.J., Olson C.D., McNamarra Barry C, and Madsen S.D. Journal of Adolescent Research, "Generation XXX: Pornography acceptance and use among emerging adults." Last modified 2008. Accessed January 30, 2014. http://stoppornculture.org/about/about-the-issue/facts-and-figures-2/.