Protecting Our Kids From Porn Online

As a journalist I am always amazed (even after all this time) how easy it is for porn to come up in seemingly innocent Google searches.

On the whole I expect it with certain words, but more often than not even simple phrases can illicit a pornographic response.  So I am not surprised to hear that when kids actually search for it (and research shows many primary aged kids already have it on their phones) that porn is there in all it’s hardcore abundance. The fact is the issue of online porn is not going away and despite MPs calling for Google and Facebook to block access via parental controls this is not going to happen, or even happen to the degree that it will protect our children from some of the more revolting and illegal images online. And don’t be fooled into thinking your kids are too young to search for images, the fact is if your let your kids use You Tube or play games online the images are there for them to come across quite innocently and without their consent. So what’s the answer?  (1) It’s about educating yourself about technology (try QuiblyChatDanger for this) so you are aware of what your kids are looking at (i.e. don’t be a technophobe be active in knowing what you’re kids are up to). (2) Set parental controls on all the internet access in the home (think games consoles, tablets, computers and phones) but be aware no filter is 100% accurate and (3) Talk to your kids about pornography as part of their sex and relationship education. This means talking about how pornography comes about, and how it has been linked to unrealistic attitudes about sex and about issues of consent and illegal images. You don’t have to do a BIG embarrassing talk but rather bring it up little and often. Discuss what they’re looking at, what they may have seen and whether the images they have seen have upset them in anyway. It’s this, say the experts, not blocking that is the best form of parental control over the images your kids see and how they interpret them. So what’s your view on protecting kids from online porn? Is it something you’re worried about?