I’ve been aware of parental controls that exist for the computer for some time. Because my kids are 10 and 12, I haven’t bothered yet to purchase any of them because I thought that the kids weren’t old enough to be an issue. However a conversation with a friend of mine the other day drove home the point that an ounce of prevention is priceless.

Imagine your horror if you discover that your teen has developed a pattern of going to porn sites? Unfortunately, as Norman Doidge explains in The Brain that Changes Itself , pornography can be highly addictive. Not only that, but the user tends to need harder and more twisted images to get the fix they want, which can lead to major sexual dysfunction. Doidge explains that many fetishes and perversions are created by the accidental discovery of a website that turns the user on. Many times the user had no fetish until they stumbled upon the site, and then finds that they are not turned on by "normal" images or sexual relations any more. This can mean that the user becomes unable to have normal sexual relations with their actual mate. (more…)