73% of US Teens Have Watched Online Pornography... First Viewing at Age 12

"41% Responded 'Saw at School'"

Amid the indiscriminate spread of adult content on the internet, 7 out of 10 American teenagers reported having seen pornography online.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 10th (local time), a survey conducted by the U.S. nonprofit organization Common Sense Media of 1,358 teenagers aged 13 to 17 found that 73% of respondents said they had seen pornography online.

Common Sense Media reported that the average age at which teenagers first encountered pornography online was 12 years old. Notably, 15% said they first saw pornography before the age of 10. The largest age group, 39%, reported first exposure between ages 11 and 13. Those who said they first saw it at ages 14 to 15 accounted for 17%, and 3% said 16 to 17 years old.

Among teenagers who encountered pornography online, 58% said they did not intentionally search for it but came across adult content while using social networking services (SNS) or surfing the internet.

Among respondents who admitted to intentionally seeking out pornography, 59% said they viewed it at least once a week. Additionally, 41% of teenagers reported having seen pornography at school. Of these, 44% said they viewed it on school-provided devices such as classroom computers rather than personal devices like smartphones.

Furthermore, 45% of teenagers who had experience watching pornography responded that "pornography provides useful information about sexual intercourse."

However, Common Sense Media analyzed that "while teenagers recognize that the sexual acts depicted in pornography differ from reality, they may find it useful because it allows them to explore their own sexual preferences and desires."

In South Korea, according to the "2022 Youth Statistics" released in May last year by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korea Youth Policy Institute, 33.8% of elementary school students (grades 4 to 6) had experience watching adult videos as of 2020. This rate is lower than that of high school students (45.1%) but higher than that of middle school students (32.2%). The overall usage rate of adult videos among youth was 37.4%.

The main route for accessing adult videos was internet portal sites at 23.9%, followed by internet live broadcasts and video sites (17.3%), and TV broadcasts (13.5%). Experience with adult videos was higher among males (44.3%) than females (29.7%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.