DID YOU KNOW?
Porn use starts and becomes addictive
during the teen years.
The Numbers Tell the Story:
AND
Have accessed porn at least
once in the last year.
PLUS...
and report viewing porn
“too many times to count.”
Let’s Stop the Silent Tsunami of Porn. Together.
Because their brains are conditioned to use porn early on, science shows that young men are preferring porn to seeking out relationships with partners.
Not only does this mean more time spent in isolation, watching scenes that ultimately lead to brain damage and mental health issues, it also means less time developing healthy relationships with peers, partners, and family.
Porn use creates a ripple effect of negative consequences that are poised to devastate men, women, children, relationships, and societies.
It is time to prevent the damage.
The Danger in TEEN USE
Porn Use During Teenage Years Damages the Brain and Leads to:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Attention & Focus Issues
- Anger, Irritability, & Moodiness
- Early and Casual Sexual Behavior
- Erectile Dysfunction at an early age
- Sexually Aggressive Behaviors in Boys
- Sexual Victimization in Girls
What is most dangerous about porn use is that these behaviors are rarely traced back to porn use.
Many families spend years seeking out help for mental health issues, ADHD, and behavioral issues with no benefit because porn use is not part of the conversation.
It is time to make porn part of the conversation.
The Largest Consumers of Internet Pornography are Kids 12 – 17 Years Old.
By 18 years of age, kids have viewed online:
Internet Pornography
Group Sex
Same-Sex Sexual Relations
Bondage Sex Acts
Bestiality
Child Porn
Porn Becomes Addictive Early On
What these kids don’t know is that porn is highly addictive and has been shown to damage their brains.
At first exposure, the brain releases a high dose of dopamine that creates arousal, pleasure, and longing for more in the brain. The feeling is neurochemically linked to what was viewed on the screen and brings the child back for more.
In doing so, the foundation for long-term addiction to porn is being laid.
Why Do Kids Use Porn?
Because Porn Becomes an
Unhealthy Coping Mechanism for Stress.
Pornography offers an escape from reality that makes their brain feel great in the short run, but causes many long-term problems, most of which aren’t easily connected back to porn use later on.
A deluge of dopamine becomes a temporary safe haven from the pains of life, whether physical, emotional, sexual, or spiritual.
Porn and masturbation become an escape from feelings of anxiety, depression, anger, self-doubt, and more. Inadvertently, porn becomes the coping mechanism, instead of dealing with the feelings in a healthy way to grow and mature. In this way, porn stunts brain development in teens that get hooked.
Before long, porn use coupled with masturbation become the go to strategy for many teenagers to destress.
4 Things You NEED to Understand about Porn Use
Porn Use Escalates Over Time
Teens don’t understand that seemingly casual porn use gets worse over time due to brain mechanisms. Studies show that when the brain is trained to produce high levels of dopamine consistently, frequently, and with increasing intensity, escalation happens in the brain. This creates the compulsive need to go back to porn just to feel OK.
Porn Use is Difficult to Stop Once Started
Porn is highly addictive. As such, it can be very difficult for teens to stop consuming once they have started. Even after just a few exposures, the pull can prevent teens from stopping even if they want to stop. Many teens need professional support to stop watching porn for good.
Only 12% of Parents Know Their Child Watches Porn
Parents are not talking to their kids about porn use. This is for a variety of reasons: they don’t believe their child is using porn, they don’t know how to talk to their kids, and they are not aware of the long-term dangers themselves.
It is time we start talking to our kids to help them avoid porn in the first place, or stop using porn if they have already started.
The Earlier the Exposure to Porn, the Harder is it to Break Free
Studies show that the earlier a child is exposed to porn, the harder the pattern of use is to break. Triggers, such as stress or boredom, push the person back into the cycle and the supernormal stimulus of the neurochemical rush pulls them back in simultaneously.
Side Effects of Porn Use in Teenagers
Porn use has been shown to have many
devastating side effects over time.
Higher incidence of sexual arousal confusion stems from porn use as many young people watch sexual acts and genres that do not often occur in real-life relationships.
Many teens know that they feel anxious, depressed, have difficulty focusing, suffer from low self-esteem and more, but… they never trace it back to their porn use.
The cycle of porn addiction continues due to dependency of use to feel good while using, and the bad feelings when not using. It becomes a vicious cycle that most people don’t see porn at the root of.
We are here to shed light on the topic and free teens from porn use.
Frontal Lobe Damage & Decreased Functioning
By going back to porn, the frontal lobe in the brain is being impaired both in terms of its structure and function. This makes it difficult for the teen to stop using porn and to think, organize, plan, and stay motivated. Long-term consequences of porn use are apparent and can impact a child’s ability to attend college, get a job, and develop healthy relationships.
Reward Center in the Brain is Desensitized
Porn use desensitizes the reward center in the brain. Porn is considered a “supernormal stimulus”. This means that due to its high levels of stimulation, it impacts the brain’s ability to gain rewards in the real world.
Without porn use, a teen would grow up to derive pleasure from work, relationships, hobbies, and real-world activities. Once exposed to the high levels of sensations from porn, the real-world pales in comparison. In fact, science shows that porn use neurochemically creates more pain in the real-world, ultimately pushing a person back into the screen as they are being pulled in by the supernormal stimulus of porn.
Which Leads to Our Work
We help teenagers understand the dangers of porn use, how to avoid porn, and what to do if they have developed a habit.
This can help them walk away from porn use before it takes a toll on them.
