Interesting Debate: Would you prefer your young teen be sexually active or be addicted to porn?

[Blazah1080]

Originally Posted by Momma_bear

I agree but the OP is suggesting that we can either choose that our young teens view porn OR have sex. Real life is not that simple. Young teens should not be doing either.

I absolutely agree with you, that they should be doing neither. I just don't think that's reality these days, where everyone has high speed internet and phones that can stream video without even blinking..

[Vic 2.0]

Originally Posted by Momma_bear

I agree but the OP is suggesting that we can either choose that our young teens view porn OR have sex. Real life is not that simple. Young teens should not be doing either.

Agreed. I said the same in my first post. In my view, neither watching pornography nor being sexually active contribute to normal sexual development in young teens (I also defined it as 13-15, because no age group was given in the OP). Though neither will inevitably do so, both are more likely to cause harm than good. I had also said that when times comes to give my son "the talk", I will tell him that sexual release is a purely physical need, and it doesn't require another person or image of any kind.

[somebodynew]

Originally Posted by Vic 2.0

Agreed. I said the same in my first post. In my view, neither watching pornography nor being sexually active contribute to normal sexual development in young teens (I also defined it as 13-15, because no age group was given in the OP). Though neither will inevitably do so, both are more likely to cause harm than good. I had also said that when times comes to give my son "the talk", I will tell him that sexual release is a purely physical need, and it doesn't require another person or image of any kind.

One thing that stands out to me from this and other threads. I think having one mighty "talk" is a bad idea. In addition to the obvious having your children witnessing you and your spouse or partner if you are partnered having a respectful relationship, the conversation should be on going.

[teacherbruce]

Originally Posted by Lucidkitty

Addiction is something you are born with, which is why it's very easy for most people to divorce themselves from things.

This is an absurd statement, showing a complete lack of understanding of the mechanisms of addiction. No one is born addicted.

If you are attempting to say that some have genes for addiction, that too is absurd. There is no gene for addiction

If it were only genes, then if your identical twin became addicted you too would become an addict.

Addiction is caused by specific set of brain changes, These changes occur with use and are caused by the accumulation of deltafosb. This molecular switch ONLY accumulates in the brain when someone chronically consumes stimuli to keep dopamine elevated above normal for extended periods.

See - Porn, Pseudoscience and ΔFosB - to understand the basics of ALL addictions, and how all addictions share one and only molecular switch - called deltaFosb. Without accumulation of high levels of deltafosb addiction does not occur. On the other hand, researchers can induce addiction simply by injecting this brain chemical into a very specific section of the reward circuit. It causes addictions by turning on specific genes which alter brain functioning and chemistry.

This chemical is activated by abnormally high levels of another brain chemical dopamine. Dopamine must stay elevated for long periods.

Guess what edging to porn can do - keep dopamine elevated, especially if a kid is clicking from scene to scene (multiple tabs) or searching through endlessly novel porn. Which is how guys use porn since the advent of high-speed connection and millions of free sites.

[teacherbruce]

Originally Posted by Lucidkitty

And you can back that up with several peer reviewed studies on the subject can you? I have more contact with teens than most people as nature of volunteering, and groups i am in. And i have not seem the proliferation of porn addiction that seems to being thrown around in this thread. Also if a parents doesn't want their child watching porn they simply put a block on the computer, set up a cell phone monitoring service, and put the computer in a public place, along with the threat of loss if they look up sites they don't want.

1) There are no studies on the percentage of individuals addicted to Internet porn. None. Do a pubmed search and you will NO matches for porn addiction. The lack of studies does not indicate the lack of evidence or it's existence. The lack of studies is politically motivated,

2) There are 11 recent brain studies on Internet addiction. These studies include porn use - but of course, no one uses the Internet for ONLY porn. So they couldn't isolate the porn addicts from other types such as gaming. All eleven studies found the same brain changes as seen in drug addicts: Altered frontal cortex white matter, sensitization, desensitization, hypofrontality, etc.

These brain changes are induced by addiction, as 2 studies followed former users and these brain changes reversed.

See this article Recent Internet Addiction Studies Include Porn: - and follow the links to the studies.