I was sitting on a vinyl school bus seat chaperoning my child’s third grade field trip when I overheard kids bragging about viewing pornographic pictures on their home laptops. These were 8-year-olds, folks.
According to the most recent studies, 71% of teens intentionally view pornography on a weekly basis. The research states that most participants see pornography for the first time at age 12, with 15% seeing it for the first time at age 10 or younger. Technology has provided easy and unlimited access which has created an unprecedented surge in accidental, along with intentional, viewing among adolescents and younger children.
Elon Musk was recently called to account for Grok, his AI tool on X, which has made news for allowing the unrestricted creation of AI-generated nude images, including of adolescents and children. He has since put some limits on the parameters of the tool on X, but a WIRED review of outputs hosted on Grok’s official website shows it’s being used to create violent sexual images and videos, as well as content that includes apparent minors.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Pornographic content addiction shouldn’t be normalized into acceptance or shamed into isolation. Neither extreme response addresses the issue effectively. The cost of youth pornography addiction is high and our kids will pay the balance if measures are not put in place by parents and legislators to regulate the exposure and prevent addiction.
Addiction is a tricky thing to define when we’re talking about a behavioral addiction such as pornography. Behavioral addictions are different from substance addictions as they don’t have a chemically addictive grasp through physical dependence on a drug. However, as reports suggest, there is an addictive quality to pornography. Viewing it releases a surplus of dopamine in the brain that leads your body to crave even more dopamine, creating a cycle of addiction.
What can start as a curiosity about sex and sexuality can form habits and obsessive thinking and, in turn, compulsions. When the body becomes desensitized to the content, much like a substance addiction, it takes a more potent form to achieve the same high. In the case of pornography addiction, it takes more personalized content, more exotic and violent sex acts to elicit the same pleasure-inducing response.
AI tools, such as Grok, have introduced users to porn with no limits on quantity or type. You can see how the cycle of this addiction can become overwhelming for anyone, let alone kids and teens. Some assign porn addiction to yet another tenet of the culture wars; however it’s not.
The pornography industry funnels youth to illicit content, changes expectations of consensual relationships including female asphyxiation during intercourse, normalizes rough sex and violent sexual acts and, with the use of AI, provides an endless quantity of ever extreme and unconventional sexual content including content involving children and minors. Studies suggest that youth who view pornography more often have casual sexual intercourse, more sexual partners, engage in a broader array of risky sex acts (including decreased condom usage), and use alcohol or drugs in their sexual experiences.
Kudos to the young people who are tired of waiting around for older generations’ solutions and have created technology around this space. Gen Zer’s have created Quitter, a gamified porn-recovery app to break free of the addiction to pornography. Other apps to combat the addiction include Brainbuddy, Quitvana, BlockerHero and AppBlock. If your kids have their own laptops and phones, check their history, install child protection settings and think about installing apps and software to help prevent pornography addiction before it starts.
What else can we do?
First and foremost, talk to your kids about pornography and the addiction to adult content. Don’t wait for your pediatrician or school to bring it up; they won’t. As young as age 8, begin talking about what to do if you see adult content accidentally or intentionally and what it does to your health and relationships.
Young people becoming addicted to pornography are not “bad” kids. They aren’t monsters. In fact, they might be the sensitive or quiet kids that you would never suspect. This dopamine release can help alleviate feelings of anxiety, depression and loneliness. There is always a why behind addiction.
A new youth sexual revolution is here, dependent upon increasing social isolation, AI deepfakes and short-form erotica. AI pornography, as seen with Grok, perfectly exemplifies the modern maxim: If Big Tech is allowed to attract and retain the attention of youth with no legal parameters, our children will suffer.
If you or someone you love is dealing with pornography addiction or any other sex addiction call Sex Addicts Anonymous: 1-800-477-8191. It’s a 24-hour hotline providing SAA meeting information and other information on 12-step support for pornography and/or sex addiction. It’s a first step in the right direction.
Beth Collums is an Atlanta-based writer. With a professional background in child and family therapy, she often writes about mental health, relationships and education.
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