The Monster in Your Modem
Posted on July 24, 2008
Filed Under Focus Ministries |
I heard a story that still breaks my heart. Joann Condie is a state-licensed counselor and member of our staff who speaks with those who call us with various needs. She shared the story of a mother whose eleven-year-old boy had 
been using porn on the home internet for quite some time. When this mom found out, she wisely and carefully dug a little deeper.
That’s when she learned that an eleven-year-old neighbor friend had introduced her boy to pornography on the computer. As the story unfolded, this mother learned that her nine-year-old son had also been introduced to porn by the neighbor. Fighting back tears, she told Joann that while the three boys were watching pornography on the computer, the neighbor boy had been molesting her nine-year-old child.
I wish such stories were rare. They’re not. Joann tells me that pornography-related issues represent about half of the phone calls she fields almost daily. Which is why I have a deep concern about the easy access of pornography in the home. Every day men and women with broken hearts and broken lives contact us about the devastating impact of pornography on their relationships. Without question marriages are being destroyed by pornography while our innocent children are introduced to obscene images at very young ages.
Earlier this month we aired a panel discussion entitled: The Seductive Lure of Internet Porn. Joann and several other guests talked about the plague of pornography with Dr. Dobson. Since, as they pointed out, the internet is the primary distribution vehicle of pornography today, one concerned father contacted us after the program offering this challenge to Christian families. Here’s a portion of his plea:
I listened with interest to your program on July 2 about pornography. I agree that it is a terrible evil but I also believe it is time for Christians to take bolder action for the protection of their families. Specifically, we need to be willing to excise internet access in our homes. If most children’s initial pornography exposure is accidental during homework, then it is time for Christian fathers to REMOVE that avenue from their homes.
At what price will you sell your child’s innocence? Your own convenience? A school’s academic requirements? Fast, easy internet access in a Christian home is NOT a necessity. It is time that the Christian adults be willing to give up their love of surfing the internet for the sake of their children.
I am not saying that we reject technology and return to 19th century activities for our children. But we, who will one day stand before Judge of all the earth, must be vigilant against the evils in our culture and be willing to do unpopular things. It’s our watch–and we only get one tour of duty with our children.
Bringing up boys is tough; bland Band-Aid approaches are not enough. Our enemy wants nothing but to kill, steal and destroy and our combat tactics must be equal to his. I call on Christian fathers to take a hard look at removing high speed internet from their homes.
I appreciate this dad’s passionate concern to protect his family from easy access to pornography in the home. Pulling the plug on high speed internet access is certainly one solution. I also realize that some households require fast internet access because of a home-based business. Thankfully, there are a number of filtering services that can block pornography from ever reaching your computer screen–whether accidentally or intentionally. Focus has partnered with both Safe Eyes and BSafeHome.com. Another useful resource is the book, Help, Someone I know Has A Problem With Porn.
Whether you’d like help finding the right filtering service or other family safety solutions related to media and entertainment, click here. If you need to speak with someone about a pornography-related problem in your home, please contact us at FocusOnTheFamily.com or by calling 1-800-AFAMILY.
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3 Responses to “The Monster in Your Modem”
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Jim Daly is the President of Focus on the Family. He has been married to his wife, Jean, since 1986. They have two sons. The Daly family resides in Colorado Springs. Finding Home represents Jim's musings on work, family and faith.
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As a former foster kid out of the Las Vegas Foster care system where can I go to help others in speaking out on behalf of the kids in the foster care system? I am getting started with Rio Bend after hearing them on the Dobson program. They want my story and he encouraged me that others would want my story as well because of how rare it is to find someone who is willing and able to help that have come from the system and pulled themselves up by the bootstraps. God pulled me up. It took a lot before I would submit and now I wonder why I had to be so stubborn. I am going on a mission trip to the last group home I was in to tell the teenagers that there is life after foster care and that they are not defined by their past but by the Truth of what God says and that God is not defined by the lack of love their parents had for them. I want to encourage them to let their past help them further their future. Thank you. Dori
It is easy to blame the Internet, computers, TV, and the schools for the problems with raising our children, but as always the main responsibility lies with the parents.
No sane parent would allow their child and teens to run around downtown at 2 in the morning, talking to adults. Yet these same parents allow their children unrestricted access to the web without any supervision.
The overwhelming majority of cases of children being harmed by the Internet or other outside influences is because the parents just don’t want to bother raising their children. I have seen this in both Christian homes and non Christian homes.
Sure there are rare cases of children being harmed despite all the parental safeguards. But, almost without exception every tragic story you hear on the news involving a child and the Internet is because the parents just were too busy to check up on them.
Also this idea that children have the same rights to privacy as adults is insane. It is OK to check up on them, know who they are talking to, and what they are talking about. If they scream “don’t you trust me” tell them “trust and time go hand in hand. As you get older and gain experience you will be trusted with more freedom to make your own choices. But until you reach adulthood my responsibility is to protect you and teach you how to protect yourself.”
Though I have not searched this site very much, I’m shocked there is no information regarding the Child Safety Act - Bill 1738. It will soon be voted on. AS far as I know, this is not a political issue; it is an issue the deals with children, regardless of political stance. I thought it would be helpful to search your site and find out more information and make sure there is nothing “hidden” in this bill, that we need to be wary about.