Adolescents and pornography: in Spain they see her since she was 10 years old and 35% between 13 and 14 years of age claim to see her "too many times"

Current technology is undoubtedly a great advantage for the lives of many families. Social networks and the media help us to be more aware of what is happening in the world, we have more information at our fingertips and it makes it easier for us to feel close to the family and friends we have far away. But like many things, it also has its negative side.

In the family or children's aspect, the common and frequent use of technology makes it easier to expose them to content that is not suitable for them, as is the case with pornography. According to a recent report, Pornography is getting closer to minors and more often than we think. We share your results and what we can do about it as parents.

As parents, one of our responsibilities in the modern world is also to take care of the type of content that our children see on the Internet. Although it is true that there is much educational and useful content, also are constantly exposed to receive or find content that is not safe or age appropriate.

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Qustodio, a parental control application that we had previously recommended as one of the most complete, recently performed an X-ray of the consumption of pornography in minors, taking important data from different studies and reports that have investigated and analyzed this topic.

Facts and figures on the consumption of pornography in adolescents

According to the data collected and according to the Psychology Today portal, 30% of the content we can find on the Internet is pornographic and pornography sites attract more visits per month than Amazon, Netflix and Twitter combined.

With this figure of how much pornographic content can be found online, it is not really so surprising to know that almost 50% of Spanish minors have been involuntarily exposed to online pornography, and less than 1% of them notify an adult about this accidental exposure.

And exactly at what age do teenagers start watching porn? Apparently, earlier than many think: at 10 years is when children begin to consume online pornography in Spain, which does not mean that all 10-year-olds do it, it gives us an idea of ​​the exposure and ease there is for them to start at such an early age.

On the other hand, in relation to the number of teenagers watching pornography online, it has been found that 90% of boys and 70% of girls between 13 and 14 years of age have seen pornography at least once in the previous year, and 35% of them, that is, About one in three, he has seen pornography "too many times to count them".

How aware are parents of it?

As we mentioned in another article, when listening to the words "pornography" and "teenagers", many parents will think: No, my son never!, but the reality is that it is possible for your child to see pornography on the Internet, and for sample, the figures I just shared.

Continuing with the data collected, we return to the information of another study conducted by Qustodio entitled 'Children and the Internet: the pending issue for Spanish parents'and that we shared a month ago, in which Spanish parents stated that At 9 years, the concern begins that children have access to pornographic content.

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However, in that same study it was found that there is really little what parents do to prevent their children's access to these contents:

• 60% of Spanish parents with children over 12 years of age do not find it necessary to supervise their children's use of technology.
• Of all the parents surveyed (with children between the ages of five and 17), only 26% use a tool to protect their children from inappropriate content.

The reasons why Spanish parents are not specified in detail it seems not to worry that your children freely use the Internet and social networks. Perhaps they are not really aware of the ease with which their children may be exposed to pornographic content and the negative impact they may have or do not know what they can do about it.

What can we do as parents

Other important data that we share, is that 74% of families say that minors are informed about sex on the Internet, something that with the increasing use of technology and mobile devices is not really surprising. But is it good that it is so? Although there is surely very useful and accurate information on certain websites, it is not the best.

We know that pornography does not show a real picture of human sexuality, and that even the majority of pornographic or sexually explicit content shows gender stereotypes or behaviors that are not positive. In fact, 6 out of ten families believe that the consumption of this type of content favors sexual assault and rape.

It may sound like an exaggeration for some, but we parents have two important missions on this topic:

• The first: protect our children from being exposed to pornographic content at an early age, because it can be highly harmful for them and their perception of sexuality, perpetuating sexist stereotypes. To do this, we can rely on parental control applications and monitor the use of electronic devices.
• The second: we have to be realistic and understand that we cannot have our children in a bubble all the time, and sooner or later they will have access to pornography. So we must 'beat' pornography, and talk to our sexuality children before they know sex through it.

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As we have commented on several occasions, it is up to us as parents to educate our children and prepare them for life, and that also includes sex education. Knowing what sex is is one of the things that our children should know before age 12, and that it is better for them to know about us, their parents.

Many people may feel a little nervous about this issue, probably because of the upbringing that we ourselves had, because in previous generations talking about sex was practically considered a taboo and that task was delegated to schools, but it is we who must have this conversation with our children and answer all your questions, especially now that you have access to so much information through the Internet.

If you don't know how or where to start, In Babies and more we have shared several articles on how to talk about sexuality with your children, since they are children, until they are teenagers and those doubts begin to arise in them, as well as some tips for this talk to occur naturally and without pressure.

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The figures and facts about the consumption of pornography can be worrisome, but instead of just alarming us, let's take action: Let us be aware of the ease with which our children have access to these contents, use parental control tools, and talk with them about sexuality in an open, natural and trustworthy environment.

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