Old News For Parents in this Forum: "Porn" Among Top Search Terms for Kids in 2009

[vellavu]

"Porn" Among Top Search Terms for Kids

In a somewhat worrying piece of news, security firm Symantec has released the top search terms by kids in 2009. Topping the lists: "YouTube," "Google," "Facebook," "sex" and "porn."

While that result set might not be surprising in the teen search rankings, it's interesting to note that "porn" ranks fourth in the "seven and under" category, receiving more searches than "Club Penguin" and "Webkinz." Meanwhile, "sex" is fourth for teens and tweens alike. Facebook, YouTube and Google take the other top spots.

The data was compiled from 14.6 million searches made using Symantec's OnlineFamily.Norton, which lets parents track their kids' online activity. And while Symantec is almost certainly hoping to sell more software as a result, it's also a timely reminder that kids are growing up fast these days.

 

[brinkster130]

Looking at those lists I bet there are little if any changes in the top searches from 2009 to 2016.

It is surprising to see so many kids under 7 are searching for porn.

 

[thrasherpix]

I would've at 7. Not to get off on it (and could easily get upset by it), but out of curiosity. (As it was, I had to wait until I was 13 when I chanced across a hardcore porn stash. A friend of mine was given a porn novel not long after by her boyfriend to "show her what boys want" that we took turns reading to each other, often with laughter, though one particularly hardcore scene did make us very nervous about "what boys want.")

I'd learned some off color songs from other children by the time I was 8 (and possibly even 6), and I could share sexually explicit jokes (some "grosser than gross" that still make me shudder to this day) from other kids as well (typically learned from older siblings).

But I disagree that kids are growing up faster. I think I must remember my childhood better than most people do. And I also recall something my grandmother said to me when I was 13 about my generation not inventing sex, drugs, partying, etc.

Though it was kinda funny, I was sent to Granny for awhile (during the messy divorce of my parents) and she had the misguided notion that taking me to church would help me. The small town preacher who took pride in being "brimstone and hellfire" (one explained that the ideal was to get the congregation to grab the pews as the preacher ranted so they didn't fall into Hell, and I'm not exaggerating about that) had a habit of staring at new people who showed up (many new people being masochists who get off on it, or maybe scared into coming back, IDK) but I reacted poorly. He ended up telling me after church that he didn't have tolerance for "punks from the big city" (note, I was 13 with delayed puberty and dressed by Granny in Sunday best gingham dress with my blonde hair in pigtails) and that he wasn't going to let his town be corrupted by my kind. Given that "his town" was the first place I smoked pot, did shrooms, went to my first keg party (which, btw, was also somewhat illegal with it being in a "dry county"), first saw porn (magazine, video, and also the novel I mentioned), and more I could mention, I'm not sure what he was talking about. 😛 (In retrospect, I can say that ranting about sex and drugs every week is counterproductive when people are mostly bored for the rest of the week, because guess what the first thing to occur to them on how to break the boredom is going to be...🙄 )