Internet Pornography Cannot Be Considered as Leisure - Coursework Example

Internet Pornography cannot be considered as Leisure Name: Institution: Date: Introduction The concept of leisure has been a contested issue amongst many scholars who have tried to define, explain the important, and provide rationale why it is important for a human. This has resulted in many definitions and theories that have been put forward to explain the concept of leisure. The categorization of activities that should be classified as leisure has also not been a consensus but a contested affair. However, there are certain agreements or ideas regarding the concept of leisure upon which the activities are assessed to determine whether they can be classified as leisure or otherwise. Some of the ideas of leisure include free-time, freedom from occupation, time away from work, time with no obligations among others. There are also importance of the leisure upon which if an action does not give rise to them, then that action cannot be categorized as leisure. One of the thing that is contested whether it is a leisure or not is the internet pornography. Whereas internet pornography could be said to have some of the characteristics of the leisure, it could be having some other characteristics that makes it not fit being a leisure. Also again, if internet pornography has importance, does these importance conform to the importance of leisure? This paper will provide arguments of why internet pornography cannot be considered as leisure. To form the groundwork of the argument, the definition and the importance of leisure is first given in the paper. What is leisure? Leisure has been defined as free time, free time implying time free from work and other obligations. This is freedom from being necessary occupied. Others have explained leisure as freedom or spare time that is provided by the cessation of activities. It is temporary exception from work or duties. From the Australian Council for Health report, leisure is defined as the state of mind with characteristics of un-obligated time and willing optimism. It may involve extensive activity or no activity. The key ingredient of leisure is stated to be an attitude which fosters a peaceful and productive coexistence with the environmental elements. It is a clock of unoccupied time, free time, or spare time, when an individual is free to rest or do what he/she chooses (Veal, 1992, p. 45). The freedom of choice of the activity do be involved in is a critical component of the leisure. Among other importance of leisure include promoting the wellness of a person. The wellness is promoted through physical health, economic health, psychological health, spiritual health, or a social health. In figuring out whether an activity can be considered as leisure, it is important to find out whether it falls within the definition of leisure or whether it has the benefits that leisure has to an individual. Internet pornography cannot be considered as leisure According to Zillman, the repeated watch of internet pornography causes a certain level of aggression an abuse amongst the person exposed to internet pornography. The increased exposure to internet pornography is associated with sexual aggression and in most cases, it leads to increase in the sexual callousness amongst the violent viewers. There is a significant portion of pornography that is known to be violent (Zillman, 1996, P.7). The other concern is that the violence and aggression in the internet pornography is perpetrated against only one gender, in most cases against the female gender. The concept of the aggression and the abuse in relation to leisure is that, this aggression and abuse is contrary to one benefit of leisure, which is promoting wellness through social health. The benefit of leisure in social health arises a result of the fact that leisure is carried out in social contexts, the social interaction is a benefit of the leisure participation. The leisure promotes the need for social affiliation and promotes the development of all the Maslows hierarchy of needs including psychological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. The leisure helps an individual appreciate the opposite gender and know how to relate well with the gender. In love or belonging level of social needs, there is need for friendship, family, and sexual intimacy (Godbey & Mowen, 2010). The exposure to the internet pornography negates these benefits of leisure through promoting aggression and abuse against other gender or negative perception against one gender. Therefore, the internet pornography cannot be considered to be leisure on the basis of lacking the benefits associated with leisure. The leisure was defined as the free time, or the activity done at the spare time that is made by the freedom of choice. The leisure has to happen when one is free from duty or any obligation. On this note, one of the effects of the internet pornography is that it results in sexual addiction and the victim suffers from sexually compulsive behaviors that reduces the capacity of a person to perform obligations at the highest level. The sexual addiction interferes with an individual’s time to do important activities like concentrating in activities. For example, an individual could be sacrificing the time for work to expose himself or herself to internet pornography through the workplace internet pornography. The addiction to the internet pornography makes an individual fail to be committed to workplace and other duty responsibilities and this interferes with not only the performance but also time-keeping (Schenk, 2009, p.75). Therefore, the characteristic and the impact of the internet pornography of interfering with the obligation time or the duty-bound time contrasts the feature of the leisure where it is done during the free time when an individual is free from any duty. Further, it was found that leisure, through promoting the personal wellbeing, it makes an individual more productive at work or in any other activity that the person undertakes. Therefore, in this regard, it is found that the interment pornography negates the benefits of leisure, therefore, it cannot be considered as leisure. Another research study indicated that addiction to the internet pornography lowers the self-esteem of the person and weakens their ability to carry out meaningful social and work life. A survey done on the pornographic addicts revealed that they disliked the “out of control” feeling and the time that their addiction to pornography consumes for them (Fagan, 2009, p. 24). These individuals reported that they felt distressed and experienced impairment especially in the important aspect of their lives because of the addiction. The research showed that these individuals are also 23 times more likely to state discovering internet pornography was the worst thing that had ever happened in their lives. This shows that the effects of the internet pornography negatives the self-esteem level of the human social needs as portrayed in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This implies that the internet pornography does not lead to the human wellbeing as it is supposed to if it was a leisure activity, and therefore, this implies that the internet pornography cannot be considered as leisure. The other major importance of the leisure is that it promotes the wellness through the physical health on top of the social health like promoting the family ties and friendship. In terms of the physical health, the leisure activities are closely related to higher levels of activity relate to improved health outcomes. Some of the leisure activities may include the activities that involve physical exercises like swimming (McKay, 2012, p. 29). The leisure activities are also associated with endorphin production that makes people happy and ensure they have positive energy amongst them. There are other benefits to the physical health that are associated with the leisure. To the people who work in offices for more than 40 hours a week, two hours of leisure can be very helpful to compensate for the health concerns of sitting down and less physical activities. The physical health benefits of the leisure cannot be underestimated. On the other hand, the exposure and addiction of the internet pornography is associated to among other health issues the sexually transmitted diseases, undeserved physical injuries from the sexual aggression and violence and in some other cases leading to the out-of-wedlock pregnancies. The addiction to the internet pornography has been associated with cases of sexually permissible attitudes and behaviors. The people exposed to the internet pornography have higher risks of contracting the sexually transmitted diseases and infections. Pornography has also been reported to contribute to sexual compulsiveness that doubles the risk of sexual transmitted disease infections (Kvalem, et al., 2014, p. 17). Therefore, the internet pornography do not promote the wellness of the people through fostering a better physical health. As a result, it can be said that the internet pornography cannot be considered as leisure. While discussing the benefits of the leisure, it was found that the leisure helps in promoting the social health like bringing the families together, growing the family bond as well as promoting the growth of the love and intimacy within a family or within the wedlock. Nevertheless, the majority of the internet pornography visuals are portrayed with unprotected sex events (Lord & Patterson, 2008, p. 15). This promotes the negative perceptions of the protected sex amongst the addicts and people hooked to the intent pornography. Therefore, the exposure to the internet pornography has been associated with cases of the out-of-wedlock pregnancies that negate the benefits of the leisure like promoting strong family ties. As a result of this contributing of pornography that is contrary to the benefits of the leisure it can, therefore, be stated that the internet pornography cannot be considered as leisure. Among many benefits of the leisure, it was found that it promotes the wholesome development of children especially psychologically and other aspects of growth. The major benefits of leisure were also found to be psychological. The leisure overcome the mental health challenges and promote relaxation and stimulation that allows the individuals to tackle complex problems/. The leisure was also found to be a major remedy to the stress through playing a role as a buffer to the stress in the society. It also plays a role in psychological development in the society (Lord & Patterson, 2008, p. 16). Nevertheless, the internet pornography, or pornography in general has been found to have adverse effects that are counterproductive in the psychological development. The neurophysiology studies have provided positives insights into the power of the pornography to form the cognitive and emotional habits to the person who is exposed. The repetition of an act is associated with establishing new neural pathways that facilitate the retention of this behaviors. There are other studies that that have uncovered the link between the pornography and the dopamine, dopamine is a hormone that produces pressure feeling. The studies on pornography addicts and the cocaine addicts shows similar results in terms of the dopamine levels. The emotionally arousing images has the effect of imprint and later the brain, cause instant, involuntary, and lasting biochemical memory fail. Therefore, the addiction or exposure to the internet pornography has an adverse effect on the psychological development of an individual. This is contrary to the role of the leisure in the psychological development of an individual. While it was initially found that the leisure is associated with the psychological wellbeing and development of an individual, it is found that the internet pornography is resulting in poor and detrimental psychological wellbeing and health (Kvalem, et al., 2014, p. 13). Therefore, it can be said that the internet pornography cannot be considered as leisure. One of the most important characteristic of leisure activity was that it is done after an individual exercises their freedom of choice. This implies that a leisure should not be something that the person encounters accidentally. Nevertheless, according to a study conducted in the United States, 70% of the youths aged between 15 and 17 came across the internet pornography accidentally. 26% of the children aged between 10 and 17 were found to have been subjected to unwanted exposure incidents more thoroughly. For example, some state that whenever they wanted to exit an unwanted internet site, they were redirected to an additional sex site. Of this number, 44% did not disclose the episode to anyone else. The initial response of these exposure is disgust (Chelsen, 2011, p. 93). Nevertheless, the repeated exposure to pornography erodes the feeling of shame and disgust especially when the children attain the adult age. As opposed to leisure where the person has the freedom to choose what to do, especially at the free time or when the person is under no obligation, it is found here that the internet pornography might happen when the user has not been given the freedom to choose and it interrupts an obligation or work (Owens, et al., 2012, p. 108). Furthermore, the feeling of disgust and shame is a contrast of the feeling that arises when a person is taking part in leisure activity. Therefore, as a result of this characteristics and effect of the internet pornography on the person, it can thus cannot be considered as leisure. Conclusion The paper aimed at discusses the position that the internet pornography cannot be considered as leisure. The paper aimed to give reasons that explains why the internet pornography cannot be considered as leisure. In this paper, the definition of the leisure was provided. The characteristics and the benefits of the leisure were also discussed. The need to discuss the definition, features, and the benefits of leisure was to find out whether the internet pornography shares in these features and characteristics as well as conform to the definition. From the definition as a free time activity, it was found that the internet pornography does not necessary adhere to the free time but infringes on the duty time. On the features, it was found that the internet pornography does not share the features of the leisure. On the benefits, it was found that the internet pornography has no benefits and its role is to negate the benefits of leisure. Therefore, internet pornography cannot be considered as leisure. Bibliography Chelsen, P. O., 2011. An Examination of Internet Pornography Usage Among Male Students at Evangelical Christian Colleges. Loyola University Chicago, pp. 1-93. Fagan, P. F., 2009. The Effects of Pornography on Individuals, Marriage, Family, and Community. Marri, pp. 2-43. Godbey, G. & Mowen, A., 2010. The Benefits of Physical Activity: The Scientific Evidence. Research Series. Kvalem, I. L., Traeen, B., Lewin, B. & Stulhofer, A., 2014. Self-perceived effects of Internet pornography use, genital appearance satisfaction, and sexual self-esteem among young Scandinavian adults. Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 8(4), pp. 1-17. Lord, E. & Patterson, I., 2008. The Benefits of Physically Active Leisure for People with Disabilities: An Australian perspective. Annals of Leisure Research, pp. 1-16. McKay, C., 2012. The psychological benefits of participation in leisure pursuits for adolescents. University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository, pp. 3-30. Owens, E. W., Behun, R. J., Manning, J. C. & Reid, R. C., 2012. The Impact of Internet Pornography on Adolescents: A Review of the Research. Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 99-111. Schenk, C. B., 2009. Pornography as a Leisure Behavior: An Investigation of Pornography Use and Leisure Boredom. BYU ScholarsArchive, pp. 2-83. Veal, A. J., 1992. Definitions of Leisure and Recreation. Australian Journal of Leisure and Recreation, 2(4), pp. 44-48. Zillman, D., 1996. Effects of Prolonged Consumption of Pornography. Indiana University, pp. 4-23. Read More