Today, the internet is a central part of the lives of many young people. Teenagers may spend several hours a day on social media and other websites. In many countries, almost all adolescents use the internet regularly, often through portable and unmonitored devices.
While the internet can bring many positive things to the lives of young people, it can also be dangerous, with a real risk of cyberbullying, sexual victimisation, and harassment. Despite the ubiquity of the internet in adolescents’ lives, young people are often unable to navigate the internet safely.
In the past two decades, the proliferation of internet use has made pornography far more accessible to young people. Internet pornography sites allow people of all ages to come across, watch, create, and share sexually explicit content. Data from across the world shows that internet pornography use among adolescents is increasing, and in Australia the average age that teenage boys first encounter porn is thirteen.
Watching pornography, especially frequently, may have a number of harmful effects on young people. The content of the majority of pornography sites promotes values like the objectification of women that harm the mental health of young communities. Research also suggests that pornography may affect the teenage brain in a unique way, more easily leading to compulsive behaviours and impacting its long-term development.
This blog outlines some of the effects of pornography on young people’s social development and the teenage brain.
Adolescence: A Critical Developmental Stage
Adolescence is a time of rapid and remarkable change. Young people experience critical and important changes physically, emotionally, cognitively, socially, and sexually. Their brains and bodies both undergo vital developments.
This process means that teenagers are especially vulnerable to their environments. Their experiences not only impact their present thoughts, feelings, and emotions, but also the way their minds and bodies function in the future. Social, emotional, and cognitive developmental processes are easily disrupted, preventing teenagers from acquiring important skills.
Adolescence is a period of identity development, including the formation of beliefs and values. Teenagers’ values and opinions may be more easily shaped by their environments and the content they’re exposed to. This means that certain experiences can have a big impact on their future selves.
How Does Pornography Affect Teenagers’ Beliefs and Values?
Pornography often reinforces gender norms that assign men and women certain roles and characteristics. It also often objectifies women, reducing them to their sexual attraction based on their physical appearance. These messages can have a deeply harmful impact on young people, encouraging sexist and misogynistic ideas to develop and spread.
Research has found that exposure to sexually explicit materials makes it more likely that young people would view women as sex objects, regardless of gender. For teenage boys, these views can contribute to harmful behaviours, such as sexist comments, sexual harassment, and gender-based violence. Teenage girls may be more prone to self-objectification, affecting their self-concept and putting them at an increased risk of developing eating disorders.
Recent research also suggests that watching internet pornography may affect teenagers’ beliefs about sex and relationships. One study found that sexually explicit material made young people more likely to see sex as something physical and material, rather than relational and affectionate.
This might affect how young people understand sexual and romantic relationships, both during adolescence and later on in life. It may, for example, lead to greater expectations of sex in a relationship or a devaluation of mutual care and support.
How Does Internet Pornography Affect Teens’ Social Development?
Research suggests that consuming internet pornography can shape adolescents’ social development, interpersonal relationships, and the way they attach to others. Pornography has been linked to social difficulties and behavioural problems among adolescents. It’s also been connected to aggressive behaviours, including sexual abuse.
Watching pornography may also affect the way teenagers relate to attachment figures, such as caregivers, close friendships, or romantic partners. One study found that adolescents who consumed pornography bonded less with their caregivers. It’s possible that these patterns are repeated in other attachment relationships, such as friendships and partnerships.
How Does Pornography Affect the Teenage Brain?
Young people’s brains continue to develop until about the age of twenty-five. This means that teenage brains are very different from adult brains and respond differently to the input they receive.
Research suggests that because of the distinct differences between teenage and adult brains, they may be uniquely affected by consuming internet pornography. For example:
- The structures of the teenage brains are much more malleable, so the experiences they encounter are more likely to cause long-term alterations to the way their brains work.
- The sex hormones testosterone and cortisone have a unique impact on brain development during adolescence.
- The HPA-axis, involved in cortisol stress responses, is more pronounced.
- The dopamine system, involved in reward, pleasure, and motivation, is overactive.
While research directly measuring the effect of pornography on the teenage brain is limited, scientists have some ideas about why and how the teenage brain may be especially vulnerable to internet pornography.
Consuming pornography triggers the reward system in teenage brains, releasing the hormone dopamine and causing urges to repeat the activity again. Because adolescent brains release more dopamine, they may experience intensified emotions of pleasure and craving. This might make adolescents more vulnerable to the compulsive use of pornography and other sexual behaviours.
Watching pornography also releases the hormones cortisol and testosterone. During adolescence, persistent exposure to the hormone cortisol can lead to long-term brain changes that impair cognitive skills and stress resilience in adulthood. Equally, adolescent brains that are exposed to more testosterone may have stronger emotional reactions and worse self-regulation after puberty.
What Are the Indirect Effects of Pornography on Adolescents?
Internet pornography can also indirectly affect teenagers and their development, especially when it affects other parts of the family system. For example, when a parent compulsively watches internet porn, they may fail to give their child enough time and attention. This can impact a young person’s self-esteem and identity as they mature, and they may develop a negative self-perception.
It can also impact the way they form relationships, causing insecure attachment and a lack of trust in others.
Compulsive consumption of pornography often causes increased conflicts between parents. Research shows that exposure to ongoing, hostile parental conflict is linked to mental health disorders among young people, including eating disorders and borderline personality disorder.
Experiencing family conflict during adolescence also makes it more likely that young people will experience mental health disorders as young adults.
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