On March 13, a popular porn site announced they were giving users in Italy free access with subscriber privileges to their content. Then they did the same with France and Spain. Italy’s porn downloads shot up 57%, France’s 38%, and Spain’s 61%. Their traffic from Europe, Canada, and the US have steadily climbed this month.

On March 17 this same site announced that worldwide porn downloads were up 26.4%. In just one month. To put this in perspective, their 2019 Year in Review revealed that the site was visited 42 billion times in 2019—that’s 115 million searches a day. Remember, this is from just one site; there are thousands of other porn sites.

Because so many children are continuing their schooling online, we must be ever vigilant with regard to the internet content our children are accessing in our homes. Family Watch has sent out some parent advisories as a caution against some organizations using this pandemic to further their pro-sexuality agenda:

1. Pornhub is pushing porn as a way to spend time when sheltering at home. They are making it even easier for children to search, access, and watch porn. Children are curious, and all it takes is one click. That’s what these porn sites want: just one click.
2. International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) encourages children to have sex with themselves through masturbation to avoid the coronavirus.
3. Teen Vogue is encouraging teens to engage in sexting (TikTok is a hugely popular app for tweens and teens and they may be tempted to take risks or act explicitly to get more followers or likes on a video).
4. AMAZE has announced “in light of COVID-19, we’re rolling out an at-home sex ed series” including videos, infographics, and resources. These explicit AMAZE videos promote 1) pornography, 2) sex, 3) abortion to children across the globe, and 4) teach children about LGBT identities.
5. Online predators are busy looking for innocent victims. Cybertip.ca analysts have classified many reports of luring – adults communicating online with a child for sexual purposes – through a variety of apps such as Facebook/Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, KIK, and others.

In the midst of all this horror, what can we do to protect our children? The most effective solution would be to just put the tablet away for good and encourage my kids to play outside all day or read books. Unfortunately, for many parents, that’s not a realistic option right now. So, NOW is a great time to establish family technology guidelines that can keep everyone in your family safe, while stuck within the confines of our homes. Please see our modern media recommended online family safety tools and other resources https://modernmedia.nrclethbridge.com/guides-resources/

General guidelines:

1. Become familiar with, or revisit the parental controls on computers, phones and tablets.
2. Help teens set up privacy settings in apps and social accounts.
3. Make sure your computers, phones, and tablets are filtered appropriately.

And remember – there’s no amount of online filters and safety controls that can replace parental supervision and communication.

4. Have regular conversations about internet safety. This includes finding out and talking about the apps your kids are using, the online games they’re playing, and who they’re chatting with.
5. Set the expectation you will monitor your child’s online activities, and work together to establish guidelines around texting, social media, and video use.
6. Tell your child that if they come across something or someone while chatting/messaging/texting that makes them feel uncomfortable, they can tell you without fear of getting into trouble or losing their online privileges. Remind them that their safety is of utmost importance to you.
7. Speak often about Joseph’s heart choice: “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Pray that the Lord may bless your feeble efforts.

When you consider that Google Trends consistently shows that the US states with the highest percentage of porn searches are in those with high concentrations of religious organizations, we can see that we cannot simply cover our eyes and hide behind the supposed protection of our church and school connections.

During this difficult time, we encourage you to use this valuable time to further strengthen family bonds. The quarantine restrictions, isolation, and anxiety from the coronavirus are pushing many Christians around the world deeper into bondage to pornography. Let’s take our own “head out of the sand” and be informed, be proactive, talk to our children, and pray that God may protect us, our spouses and our children from this plague let loose by Satan.

Sources:
Canadian Center for Child Protection. www.cybertips.ca
Dufrin, Moriah. www.covenanteyes.com
Slater, Sharon. www.familywatch.org
Genung, Mike. www.blazinggrace.org