‘Pornography warping minds of a generation’

‘Your child will consume pornography, it’s embedded in everything and the minute your child takes a phone in their hand, they take everything it has to offer into their lives”, parents were warned at a talk in Mullingar last week.

Richard Hogan, psychotherapist and author of ‘Parenting the Screenager’, said that letting your child loose on technology is like letting an eight-year-old wander down O’Connell Street alone in the dead of night.

Children as young as senior infants have been known to consume pornography and it is warping the minds of a generation, he claimed.

Today’s pornography is nothing like the pornography of the ‘70s and ‘80s. It is hardcore and much more insidious. It features material that desensitises and dehumanises and can lead to difficulties in forming normal intimate relationships.

Mr Hogan said that going from watching pornography to trying to have an intimate relationship is like going from heroin to having a few pints with friends. Pornography is addictive and is damaging many relationships.

He said not all children who watch pornography will be warped, but if there is a vulnerability in the child, it will be fuelled by pornography.

He cited Boy A in the Ana Kriégel case and Ted Bundy as examples of what that can lead to.

His advice to parents was:

• Don’t give your child a phone before they are 10 or 11, but do give them one before they go to secondary school or you will be doing them a disservice.

• Set boundaries early about how long they can spend on devices and stick to them.

• Don’t let them have devices or games in their room.

• Check your child’s phone regularly.

• Open up the channels of communication about technology and pornography.

• Know your child’s friends and their parents and even set up a WhatsApp group for parents.

He reminded parents: “You are digital immigrants, they are natives.”

Parents, school, church and community have unite to fill the gap until the government “gets its act in order” and brings in legislation to protect our children. If we all work together we can beat this problem, it’s not beyond fixing, he said.

The public lecture, entitled Pornography, Technology and Children, was delivered in The Greville Arms Hotel, Mullingar, last Thursday night. It was well attended and many members of the audience participated in the discussion.

The event was organised by the Christian Churches Fellowship and in his closing remarks, Rev Canon Alastair Graham, Rector of All Saints, urged the church leaders to act on Mr Hogan’s advice that family, school, church and community unite to protect children from the negative effects of technology.

He thanked Mr Hogan for his compassionate, intelligent and inspirational talk.