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Please help me! someone at schol told me to look up a certain hashtag on social media, because they said it was funny. For some reason when I got home I was curious and decided to look.
It turns out it was a hashtag that had porn on it. I didn't mean to look at the porn, but once I did I couldn't stop. Now I am battling with myself to stop watching it, but its really hard.
I just want to stop watching it, but I think I might be addicted to it, and I know its bad for children. Please help me Sam, what should I do??!!!
14 year old girl
Hi there,
Youve done really well to get in touch with me. Lots of young people feel curious about sex and look at porn to see what its all about.
Porn doesnt show what sex is really like. If people think that things that happen in porn are the things expected in a relationship, it can lead to some people feeling as though theyre supposed to behave in the same way as the porn actors do. This isnt true at all. Sex is a very personal thing and when people decide they feel ready to have sex its important for partners to talk to each other about what they feel comfortable with and what they want to and dont want to do.
You said that you want to stop watching the porn. It might help to think about your reasons for carrying on looking at it. Maybe there are some things about sex that you want to know. Thats completely normal and ChildLine counsellors can talk with you about sex and how you feel. You could also look at our online porn page for advice and information about porn.
There are lots of reasons why people watch porn. Some people watch it to get sexual pleasure from what they see. Some people might decide to watch it if they feel bored. Whatever your reason is, if you dont want to see it, there are things you can do to protect yourself from it. You can change the security settings on your internet access, or ask an adult to help you with this. You can make a list of things youd rather do instead of watching porn and then when youre thinking of looking at porn again, you can choose something else to do from your list.
Please remember that theres always somebody who can be there for you. If you want to talk, you can speak to a counsellor at ChildLine, or you could talk to other young people about whats on your mind if you go to our message boards.
Im really glad that you felt able to write to me about this. I think that there could be other young people in your situation and seeing your letter might have helped them too.
Take care,
Sam
You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.
You can ask me about anything you want, there's nothing too big or small. I read every single letter but I can only answer a few each week. My replies are published here on my page.