Issues@Hand
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June 2015 – One in ten 12-to-13-year-old British teenagers worry they are addicted to porn, according to a 2015 survey by National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
Additionally, 20% say they have been shocked and disturbed by pornographic images, and 12% had participated in making a sexually explicit video. The teenagers admitted that viewing porn led to depression, body image issues, and feeling pressure to engage in sexual acts.
“I didn’t think it was affecting me at first,” one respondent said. “But I’ve started to view girls a bit differently recently, and it’s making me worried.”
A 2014 study in the UK by ChildWISE found that 11-to-16-year-old boys listed a porn site in their top five favorite websites.
Porn addiction is not just a problem for teenage boys, as Gospel Coalition recently pointed out. In a plainspoken caution to attendees at its April 2015 TGC conference, Gospel Coalition cited research indicating that hotel managers testify to seeing a steady or increased rate of porn consumption in hotel rooms booked for Christian conferences. One manager said, “Unfortunately, [hotel staff] know you are Christians by your porn consumption.”
mashable.com, 3/31/15; gospelcoalition.org, 4/12/15