Kiwi Teens Want to Cut Down on Porn Consumption, But Can't

For young ones growing up in the internet age, everything, including some pretty graphic stuff, is at their fingertips. And aside from a dead battery or shoddy wifi, there isn’t much getting in the way. As a result, a quarter of Kiwi teens have watched porn before the age of 12, and a chunk of teen users are grappling with “compulsive” viewing despite trying to cut back, a new report reveals.

Recently, there has been debate about whether New Zealand should follow the UK’s lead and introduce mandatory age restrictions on porn sites. Although there was scepticism about how this could be possible for such expansive content, it turns out the great majority of teens in the study, half of whom are frequent users, want restrictions on porn themselves.

The NZ Youth and Porn report, released on Wednesday, surveyed 2000 Kiwi teens and found that a number of 14-to-17-year-olds already felt dependent on porn, even though they were troubled by what they were watching.

As many as 72 percent of young participants, who had viewed porn recently, said what they saw made them feel uncomfortable. Almost three quarters said they had watched porn with non-consensual activity and some teens reported feeling upset, sad or unhappy while watching graphic content. And 42 percent of regular users said they were struggling to watch less porn, even though they wanted to.

Chief censor David Shanks said the research showed an “overwhelming consensus that porn is not for kids” and that these teens want restrictions on what they can access. "If people are wanting to do it less and they can't, then that's a problem we should address.”