Online Porn Viewed in Record Numbers, Seen as ‘Safer than Real Sex’

A new study shows that more teens and adults are watching online porn and that number is rising.

In a new study by the nationwide Barna Group, 3,000 people were interviewed about their porn habits. The study is called "The Porn Phenomenon" and looks at who is viewing porn, how much and why. The study doesn't fully come out until April, but at a news conference this week they released some of the details of the study.

The team found that porn use in both teens and adults is on the rise because they believe that porn is "less risky than actual sex." They also saw that pastors struggled the most with their porn use finding the activity "shameful." The interviewees are from all over the United States and all walks of life.

In the study, they found that people defined porn more by its function than the form it comes in. People defined porn as:

• The defined porn mostly based on the function it serves: for the purpose of sexual arousal.
• Most Americans do not believe full nudity or especially partial nudity qualify as porn.
• There is a wide range of definitions of porn across various segments of society.

They also found that people view porn not only for arousal, but also just when they are merely curious or even just bored. They also found that the respondents were very open with their answers and personal, private information. When they were given the option to opt out of certain questions, 90% continued on giving the information asked.

Younger generations also viewed porn more favorably. Most viewed porn as "bad for society," but the younger generations answered "neutral," or "good for society." Not only has porn use gone up for all, the number has significantly increased for women. Teen girls and young women under 25 are more likely to seek out porn to view.

The study also looked deeper into the role of porn in the Christian faith and Christian community. You can read more from this study at the Barna Group website.