Gubernatorial candidate and Tennessee congresswoman Diane Black caused the Internet to collectively guffaw this week after the Huffington Post published audio of Black partially blaming school shootings on pornography and other “root causes” during a listening session with a group of ministers.
“Does anyone know what kind of porn Rep. Diane Black is watching?,” quipped Jennifer Bendery, the senior political reporter who broke the story. While Bendery’s article points to experts who say that, in addition to guns, “social, cultural, and economic conditions” can contribute to mass shootings, any causal connection between teenage porn consumption and mass gun violence strains credulity.
But this does not mean youth exposure to ever-more problematic forms of pornography, or other risky Internet behavior, should be laughed off with a tweet. A growing body of scholarly literature now suggests that both sexting and Internet pornography can negatively affect aspects of adolescent mental and relationship health. And, as teens increasingly escape into the pale glow of hand-held screens, a variety of undesirable emotional outcomes follow.
Hyperbole from Rep. Diane Black aside, it may be time to start asking whether the U.S. is doing enough to protect a generation glued to digital devices. It appears teen loneliness, anxiety, and depression are increasing. High rates of youth suicide are accelerating. And while others have detailed how social media and online gaming contribute to feelings of isolation and loneliness, a significant amount of teen screen time is also spent viewing pornography and engaging in other sexual activity on the Internet.
Hidden under the mattress is the possibility that unhealthy digital sex lives are also contributors to symptoms of depression and adolescent anxiety.
Research, for example, conducted with colleagues at Brigham Young University and published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy suggests a pairing between pornography use and loneliness. Loneliness and pornography appear to mutually escalate together. Incremental increases in loneliness were associated with increases in pornography use, and incremental increases in pornography use predicted a significant increase in loneliness. While there may be plenty of porn usage that doesn’t presage such feelings, patterns of interlocking partnerships are worrisome.
These possibilities are concerning regardless of one’s age, but parents should be aware of the risks presented to young adults when porn is readily available and teen sexting is prevalent. According to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics, nearly 30 percent of teens now report sending or receiving sexually explicit “sext” messages, usually on their phones. About 12 percent confess to forwarding messages to others without consent. Researchers warn that this can contribute to cyberbullying and harassment.
In a separate study by Education Development Center in Newton, Mass., researchers found that those engaged in sexting had higher rates of suicidality and were almost twice as likely to experience symptoms of depression. A more recent study from the University of Texas Science Center at Houston confirmed findings that sexting can “negatively impact mental health among early adolescents.”
While it’s unclear to what extent sexting drives depression or vice versa, research shows that girls are disproportionately affected. A doctoral student at Northwestern recently found that many young women feel “overwhelmed” and “trapped between social expectations (that) they ‘shouldn’t’ send (nude) photographs and pressures to adhere to male desire.” Tellingly, of those who sent nude photos, “more than 90 percent … engaged in what could be considered unwanted but consensual sexting to either prove their affections or avoid reproach or conflict with their partners.” A diet of internet porn for young men may fuel the pixelated propositioning of young women.
The mass distribution of digital technologies presents immense opportunities in terms of access to information, technology, and emerging modes of expression. But when cellphones become palm-sized portals for porn, they may transform into obstacles for teenage mental and relationship health. Some will argue that pornography is a relatively safe sexual outlet. Proponents point to the fact that adolescents are having sex later, teen pregnancy is down, and fewer minors are arrested for sexual assault. But, as journalist Maggie Jones observes in New York Times Magazine, “you don’t have to believe that porn leads to sexual assault or that it’s creating a generation of brutal men to wonder how it helps shape how teenagers talk and think about sex.” Or, as research now intimates, how it affects a teenager’s mental and relationship health.
In a 2017 report, Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Health warned against “the public health effects of the ease of access and viewing of online violent and degrading sexually explicit material.” Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is currently taking significant steps to block access to Internet pornography to anyone under the age of 18. It’s worth asking whether the United States should follow suit.
Although Rep. Diane Black’s recent comments run recklessly ahead of current data, the observations of feminist writer Naomi Wolf may not be far off: “When I ask about loneliness, a deep, sad silence descends on audiences of young men and young women alike. They know they are lonely together … and that (pornographic) imagery is a big part of that loneliness. What they don’t know is how to get out.”
