Children's Exposure to Negative Internet Content - Essay Example

IS INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY A LEISURE ACTIVITY? Student’s Name Presented to Course Date Introduction Leisure consists of a wide range of activities extending from spatial and social practices, meanings, and experiences that are materially and socially constructed in definite contexts of time and place (Butler, 2004). Although there are many definitions of leisure, most of the common attributes are covered in definitions. For instance it is regularly offered as a state of being or else mind in which case it refers to an essential condition that exhibits an aspect of agency (Butler, 2004). Furthermore, the ability to opt being included in specific forms of bodily or mental activity is as well correlated with leisure as is form of choice over the nature and form of an individual’s participation. In addition, another common characteristic of leisure is the voluntary use of time. As such, Reible (2006) concurs that leisure is all about free choice and therefore the freedom to involve one in leisure activities is relative. In such cases entitlement, preference, availability, access, practice and opportunity varies greatly among people and places. Nowadays, the rapid development in the field of information communication and technology has led to diversification of leisure activities. For instance the inception and commercialization of internet, there has been significant transformation of society’s experience of leisure practices and social involvement from the traditional conceptualization (Juniu 2009). According to Juniu (2009), internet connectivity has led to a lot of people especially adolescents and teenagers spending most of their time in virtual communities as sort of entertainment. This is the places where they access pornographic materials available in some online websites that commercializes adult content. As such, the authenticity of internet technologies has been questioned by dystopian discourse according to Juniu (2009). Reason being internet pornography is believed to encourage social isolation, deviance, depression and loss of community. Furthermore, overdependence of internet-based leisure activities is in most cases likely to lead into individualistic activity that users are only able shared in virtual time and space (Reible, 2006). Conversely, intent pornography impersonalizes modern lifestyle as it replaces face-to-face social practices with other forms of technology based leisure activities such as internet pornography. In this regard, internet pornography cannot be considered as a form of leisure activity as it negatively influences social support, social interaction and leisure practices. According to Cho and Cheon (2005), internet pornography as a form of leisure encompasses downloading and uploading sexually explicit videos, pictures and sexually suggestive written content. In addition, it is not only being practiced by the young but as well adults but most importantly is that the effects are more or less the same across the divide. This is especially in respect to psychological well being of an individual which majorly influences one’s social and mental soundness. In this context Cho and Cheon (2005) notes some of the negative effects of internet use by children as including easy accessibility and proliferation of pornographic content. Research has revealed that some of the negative outcomes include increased fear, aggression, identity confusion, low self-esteem, and negative self perception, lack of reality, antisocial behaviour, psychological trauma, aggression, poor school performance and desensitization among others. Specifically, sexually explicit content through internet pornography has the capacity to desensitize children and influence them into deviant sexy stimuli thereby encouraging them to develop antisocially aggressive sex behaviours. Subsequently, another probable and dangerous opportunity is that in the case of children, paedophiles are likely to approach children via internet forums such as online chats. Therefore, children who devote a lot of their leisure time on internet are highly prone to becoming easy targets of adult sexual offenders. In this regard Kanunga and Rosenfeld (2004) in this research go on further to note that internet pornography facilitates physical harm among its users. Other than viewing inappropriate sexually explicit materials, internet is a way in which sexual exploitation occurs. Reason being the ease of real-time communication via various mediums for instance e-mail, instant messaging, and chat rooms significantly increases the probability of comparable kinds of people searching each other and subsequent making anonymous meet with the sole intention of having sex. On the other hand, internet use as a form of leisure activity has been favoured by most people as it has relative privacy (Kanuga & Rosenfeld, 2004). Therefore, it provides a unique environment which is quite different from leisure places for instance clubs and bars. As such, the ‘private’ environment provides online seekers with a sense of reduced inhibition through anonymous interaction (Ibid, 2004). Subsequently, the probability of an internet user making a contact with a partner is additionally increased by considerable dimension of pool of online dating. Therefore, it can be deduced that internet use coupled with resultant internet pornography as a form of leisure significantly enhances sex-seeking efficiency. The resulting consequences according to kanuga and Rosenfeld (2004) are potentially disastrous and profound in nature as earlier mentioned. In a research by Retmeijer et al. (2001), it was found out that at least sixty-five per cent of individuals with intention of having internet based sexual encounters had actual love affairs with partners they found on the internet. However, the major concern is that it was only 44% out of these who made use of condom during their last sexual encounter with an internet partner. In this regard, internet pornography significantly escalates the danger of contracting HIV and sexually transmitted diseases through increased rate of sexual meets hence aggregating the number of unsafe encounters (Kim et al., 2001: Benotsch et al., 2002). According to Kanuma and Rosenfled (2004, this is particularly true among teenagers and adolescents who spend most of their leisure time in internet pornography. Consequently, another concern of internet pornography is the form of commercial adverts found on websites popularizing adult content. This is especially in reference to availability and accessibility to sex enhancing prescription drugs. In such instances, individuals especially children who in most cases are risk takers may experiment such drugs without taking into consideration their side effects. Furthermore, as earlier mentioned internet pornography greatly affects sexual attitudes and behaviour of an individual who makes use of it. According to Lo and Wei (2005), this is especially notable on adolescents who during their leisure time accesses internet pornographic content. The authors argue that sexually explicit content strongly influences young people’s sexually permissive attitudes. In particular, over access to pornographic content in the internet is a predictor of sexually permissive behaviour and attitudes among college students, teenagers and adolescents. Besides, young individuals with high levels of exposure to internet pornography tend to engage in sexual relations with multiple partners. On the other hand, minor aged individuals are likely to get accept premarital sex as a result of being obsessed with internet pornography (Loi & Wei 2005). In the same regard, prolonged exposure to intent pornography leads to great acceptance of extramarital sexual encounters as well as great tolerance for violations of sexual exclusivity. In the same respect, Wood (2011) notes that internet pornography fosters feelings of omnipotence and power considering the versatility, scope, speed, and scale of internet technology. Conversely, sexual arousal can be said to be an ordinary anti-depressant that is characterized with negative moods of power, vigour and excitement. As such, sexualisation resulting from internet pornography is considered by some as a useful defence for avoiding feelings of deadness, adequacy and depression. Therefore, according to psychologists, internet pornography coupled with sexuality undoubtedly leads to maniac defences. As such person who is obsessed to internet pornography perceives maniac value to the imaginary relationship in respect to the prevailing object during cybernetic sex. Furthermore, Wood (2011) argues that in case of employment of maniac defences, perceptions of vulnerability and dependency are substituted with contempt, control and triumph. Such traits are commonly found among individuals who are fond of accessing internet pornography. Consequently, Fisher and Barak (2001) in concurrence with Wood (2011) argues that internet pornography has been found to be capable of triggering acquisition of conditioned sexual arousal responses, evaluative and affective responses, expectative and informational responses as well as sexual fantasy responses. These are but not limited to some of the most common internal psychological consequences to internet pornography and they to a large extent determines the nature and occurrence of preparatory sexual behaviour, explicit sexual behaviour, outcome of such behaviour, prospective chances of developing such behaviour as well capacity in future to come into close contact with such sexually explicit materials. In this sense, Fisher and bark (2001) argues that majority of individuals who are fond of searching of searching fro pornographic content on the internet does so out of their own will and with time they become addicted. There the sexual behaviour sequence conceptualizes one’s experience with internet pornography as a choice made by an active interpreter and perceiver of such sexually explicit content. On the hand, it is worth noting that getting use to used internet pornography, an individual leads a life that involves emotional responses to excessive sexuality, weird beliefs on sexual activity and imaginations and expectations relating to sexual behaviour outcomes to experience with sexual activity. It is worth noting according to Martenson and Mansson (2010) that nowadays the perspective of most communities across the globe in regard to pornography as morally reprehensible and shameful activity is being regarded acceptable by some quarters. This is especially amongst the youth due to accessibility to internet either on own personal computers or mobile phones. In the same respect, consumption of internet pornography is most common among men when compared to women especially in the Western society. Reason, being the perception of many individuals in the West is that it is more socially acceptable in the case of men from a cultural perspective. These experiences leads into one engaging into immoral activities such as defiling children and rape due to obsessive sexual feelings and it is therefore important not to consider internet pornography as a leisure activity. In summary, this research essay has explained leisure activity as wide range of activities extending from spatial and social practices, meanings, and experiences that are materially and socially constructed in definite contexts of time and place. Besides, it has been discussed that leisure is all about free choice and therefore the freedom to involve one in leisure activities is relative. Hence among people and places, entitlement, preference, availability, access, practice and opportunity varies to large extent. In this regard, there has been a paradigm shift in the way people are spending their leisure activities as influenced by the rapid adoption of Information Communication and Technology. As such, there has been significant transformation of society’s experience of leisure practices and social involvement from the traditional conceptualization has brought about internet pornography as a form of leisure which encompasses downloading and uploading sexually explicit videos, pictures and sexually suggestive written content. These greatly influences the psychological well being of an individual especially among adolescents leading to increased fear, aggression, identity confusion, low self-esteem, negative self perception, lack of reality, antisocial behaviour, psychological trauma, aggression, poor school performance and desensitization among others. On the other hand, addiction to internet pornography is capable of leading to significant increases the risk of contracting HIV and sexually transmitted disease. In the same respect, it may cause psychological consequences extending to abnormal sexual attitudes and behaviour. In this regard therefore, with such consequences, internet pornography cannot be considered as a way of spending leisure activity and this research essay demonstrates its negative effects. Bibliography Benotsch, E. G., Kalichman, S. et al., 2002. Men who have met sex partners via the Internet. Arch Sex Behav, 31, 177-180. Butler, R. (2004). Geographical research on tourism, recreation and leisure: Origins, eras and directions. Tourism Geographies, 6(2), 143-162. Cho, C. H. & Cheon, H. J., 2005. Children's Exposure to Negative Internet Content: Effects of Family Context. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 49(4), 488-509. Fisher, W. A. & Barak, A., 2001. Internet pornography: A social psychological perspective on internet sexuality. Journal of Sex Research, 38(4), 312-323. Kanuga, M. & Rosenfeld, W. D., 2004. Adolescent Sexuality and the Internet: The Good, the Bad, and the URL. J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol , 17, 117–124. Kim, A,A,, Kent, C., McFarland, W., et al., 2001. Cruising on the Internet highway. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr, 28, 89-92. Lo, V. & Wei, R., 2005.Exposure to Internet Pornography and Taiwanese Adolescents' Sexual Attitudes and Behavior. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 49(2), 221-237. Mårtenson, L. L. & Månsson, S. A., 2010. Lust, Love, and Life: A Qualitative Study of Swedish Adolescents' Perceptions and Experiences with Pornography. Journal of Sex Research, 47(6), 568-579. Wood, H., 2011. The internet and its role in the escalation of sexually compulsive behavior. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 25(2), 127-142. Reible, H. F., 2006. Deviant leisure: Uncovering the “goods” in transgressive behavior. Leisure/Loisir, 30(1), 55-71 Retmeijer, C., Bull, S. & McFarlane, M, 2001. Sex and the Internet. AIDS, 15, 1433. Read More