More than 80 percent of high school students exposed to porn, says study
By Aneesh M Das | ENS – KOLLAM
30th July 2013
When it comes to pornography addiction, most parents are under the false impression that their children keep a safe distance from the addictive visuals. Most often parents and teachers remain unaware of the pornographic content their children were exposed to or the sources through which they gain access to it.
A recent study conducted jointly by city-based St Joseph’s Guidance and Counselling Centre and the counselling psychology students of Marin Luther Christian University (Meghalaya) among the high schools students in the district revealed that more than 80 per cent of the students were exposed to porn, among which 13.5 per cent were seriously addicted. The study covered 750 high school students from six schools in the district among which 143 were girls. Among the 750 students, only 146 were never exposed to porn.
While around 502 were ‘lightly’ affected with the craving for porn content, 88 students were ‘seriously’ affected, 11 ‘severely’ affected and three ‘chronically’ affected. The exploratory study, which covered four schools in the city and two schools in rural areas of the district, including government, aided and private schools, found that porn addiction rate does not relate to the location of the schools, gender, religion and syllabus or medium of instruction in the school. The study calls for intervention of parents, teachers and school authorities to save the children from addiction to porn, which can affect their behaviour and studies.
Director of St Joseph’s Guidance and Counselling Centre, Rev Jose Puthenveedu, who guided the study, said that students in the seriously-affected, severely-affected and chronically-affected categories require urgent professional awareness and psychotherapeutic intervention.
“Awareness should also be generated among lightly-affected students as they might fall for more porn content in future,” he said. According to Jose Puthenveedu, there is an urgent need for the parents and teachers to turn tech savvy.
“Parents should be able to monitor the use of computers and gadgets that can be used for viewing porn. Overnight use of mobile phones should also be restricted. Most often students get exposed to the porn website from internet cafes they visit under the pretext of preparing academic projects,” he said.
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