Format
Individual Presentation
First Presenter's Institution
Dublin City Schools
Second Presenter's Institution
NA
Third Presenter's Institution
NA
Fourth Presenter's Institution
NA
Fifth Presenter's Institution
NA
Location
Session 2 (Scarbrough 2)
Strand #1
Mental & Physical Health
Strand #2
Social & Emotional Skills
Relevance
With the invention of the Internet, high-speed pornography has become available to a greater number of children and adolescents. A recent study shows that 10% of pornography views are by children under the age of 10. With cellular phones, teens are able to access pornography upon demand. With the advancement in neuroscience, researchers can trace the impact of porn use with an increase in brain chemicals that are known precursors to porn addiction. Studies show a decrease in sexual satisfaction among porn users in real human sexual relationships. Research shows a link between pornography use and an increase in verbal and physical aggression towards intimate partners. There is also a noted link to porn use among over 50% of divorce cases. The relevance to pornography use among adolescents is in the active development of brain sensory pathways to intense stimuli. The impact of pornography addiction is seldom, if ever, discussed among children/teens and their parents or public educators. Pornography often depicts actors in multiple individual or group sexual relationships, with no education regarding pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease prevention. Studies show that excessive pornography use can lead to greater isolation from real relationships, to achieve an incomparable stimulation from the false substitute of edited and choreographed pornography. Both male and female porn users can find themselves in cognitively dissonant positions when trying to establish healthy sexual relationships, and their expectations vary greatly.
On a larger social and cultural scale, pornography is linked to international sex slavery and sex trafficking, to meet the growing demand for more novelty pornography. Annually, law enforcement are facing with the challenge of shutting down sex trafficking rings at large social/sporting venues, such as the Super Bowl or large conferences.
Considering these few references, it is easy to begin to understand the social impact on public health and safety. Going forward, it is irresponsible to not share this emerging information with the parents and educators of our children and youth.
Brief Program Description
This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.
Summary
This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.
This presentation will focus on the historical development of pornography, from the first visual formats to the fast-changing impact of virtual media. It will be broken down into three segments: 1- The impact of pornography on brain development by the release of brain chemicals that rewire the brain’s reward pathways, ultimately changing the make-up of the viewer’s brain and increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- How pornography alters a realistic view of what real love is, by giving a false substitute for real intimacy. This may result in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person, defining their partner as a sexual commodity and an increase in verbal and physical aggression. 3- How pornography’s harm is impacting the youth’s perceptions of healthy relationships, promotes sex trafficking of primarily women and children, promotes a false sense of safety with multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention, and may lead to sexual dysfunction in young adults (Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction or P.I.E.D.).
Participants will:
Be able to describe the progression of media’s impact on the desensitization of pornography in our culture and how that shift has sexualized a new generation of internet porn users. Information on the advanced technology of "Virtual Reality Pornography" can lead viewers to a greater sense of involvement in the videos, resulting in a greater sense of isolation from real relationships and intimacy.
Be able to explain the linear connection and progression between soft-porn usage to the macro-impact of the world-wide sex slavery industry.
Be able to utilize the information in group or individual counseling as a means to discuss the impact of pornography use and how it may have adverse effects on promoting healthy relationships across the life span.
Evidence
This presentation was inspired from a growing awareness of pornography use among high school teens, through school-based individual and group counseling sessions. Researching topics related to pornography use among teens revealed a large field of studies on the impact of brain development and its link to an increased dissatisfaction in intimate relationships and an increase in sexually aggressive behaviors. It also revealed how high-speed internet pornography is readily available, how most teens can access endless hours of free video pornography and how this use creates a greater sense of anonymity and isolation.
This presentation has been shared with high school teens in large assemblies and classroom groups. Post-survey comments tell how teens are largely unaware of any psychological/emotional danger in frequent pornography use. A common response is that they wish they had known this information when they were in middle school.--the typical onset of pornography curiosity. Most individual and group counseling sessions with male students reveal extreme difficulty in maintaining a porn-abstinence lifestyle for any significant time span.
Research also links the production of/demand for pornography to international sex trafficking, mostly among women and children.
A take-away from this presentation will be how comfortable teens are with discussing their pornography use, in a safe setting. Participants will be able to utilize the information in group or individual counseling as a means to discuss the impact of pornography use and how it may have adverse effects on promoting healthy relationships across the life span.
Biographical Sketch
Wm. Kelly Canady, LMSW, has been a school social worker for the Dublin City School system since 1998. He has also been the sexual abstinence educator for over 15 years, utilizing various programs among middle and high school students. In this capacity, he promotes an age-appropriate, open discussion rapport with his students about at-risk behaviors and relationships. He is the Dublin High School faculty representative for the “Sources of Strength” suicide prevention program and serves on the “Voices of Hope” Suicide Prevention Coalition of Dublin-Laurens County. Kelly was a task-force member for the development of the Stepping Stone Children’s Advocacy Center in Dublin, and currently serves as the Board Chairman. He also serves on the Laurens County Child Fatality Review Board and the Laurens County Child Abuse Protocol committee. He is a member of the School Social Workers Association of Georgia and serves as chairman of the Child Abuse Prevention Committee of the Dublin Exchange Club. Kelly has a passion to achieve the vision statement of the Stepping Stone CAC: to one day live in a community where children flourish free from child maltreatment in all of its forms.
Keyword Descriptors
pornography, adolescent, brain development, virtual reality pornography, neural pathways, sex trafficking, social media, sexual dysfunction, sexual dissatisfaction, STD's
Presentation Year
2020
Start Date
3-9-2020 1:15 PM
End Date
3-9-2020 3:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Canady, William K., "Pornography: Adolescent Brain Development & Addiction" (2020). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 23.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2020/2020/23
Included in
Cognitive Neuroscience Commons, Counselor Education Commons, Developmental Neuroscience Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence Commons, Health and Physical Education Commons, Health Communication Commons, Health Policy Commons, Health Psychology Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons, Law and Society Commons, Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Social Media Commons, Social Work Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons
Pornography: Adolescent Brain Development & Addiction
Session 2 (Scarbrough 2)
This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.
