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Monday, July 03, 2006
Editorial: Cyber addiction
WITH the country’s law enforcers hampered from going after online child pornographers, other sectors in society must pull their weight to protect children and minors from being victimized in cyber crimes.
This insight was drawn during the June 19-20, 2006 forum on Building Alliances to Combat Child Pornography held in Cebu City.
Absence of a law penalizing online child pornography and lack of technical capability affect police efforts to flush out the estimated 50 to 75 cybersex dens in the country.
Since reports show that Internet cafes influence the proliferation of online pornography, Cebu officials are working with Internet café owners to implement ordinances more efficiently.
Self-regulatory efforts of the Internet café industry should be complemented by families and schools as they have the greatest incentive and opportunity to influence the youth.
Hi-tech dangers
Failing to understand the new technology can open the floodgates to the lurking menace of cyberspace.
The risks for abuse are real in all portals of virtual reality, from mobile phones to the Internet and webcams. While recent arrests of alleged operators have catapulted online pornography to prominence, the news media has also reported many cases of minors being “date-raped” after an “eyeball (first personal encounter)” with a textmate.
Along with strides in information processing and work productivity, the New Technology has led to a new form of compulsive, self-destructive behavior: cybersex addiction.
Psychotherapists and addiction counselors urge that this public issue be given greater attention because clinical studies show that even among those with no history of sexual addiction, exposure to the Internet and other portals leads to the rapid escalation of behavior from the self-destructive to the illegal.
This was a major finding of Jennifer Schneider in her “Qualitative Study of Cybersex Participants.”
Preventive medicine
Schneider’s study reinforces the adage that the best medicine is monitoring and prevention.
More than females, males prefer to download pornography. Addiction to computer-generated sexual arousal and stimulation makes a person incapable of sustaining real, complex relationships.
Based on Schneider’s online survey, more women than men have online sexual activities that lead to real-life sexual encounters.
In another online study of over 9,000 people accessing sexually-oriented web sites, chat rooms, and bulletin boards, the team of Cooper, Putnam, Planchon, & Boies (1999) categorized cybersex users as “recreational”, “at risk,” and “sexually compulsive” users.
Both Cooper et al and Schneider assert that cyber addiction progresses quickly from being merely “recreational” (those who accessed online porn accidentally or out of curiosity) to “compulsive” because of the Internet’s “ease of access to sexually oriented materials and the ability to connect with others who have similar sexual interests.”
Accidental viewing of porn sites often leads to the mousetrapping of victims. According to the online dictionary Wikipedia, mousetrapping is a “technique… usually (resorted to by) pornographic websites to keep visitors from leaving their website… by launching an endless series of pop-up ads…or by re-launching their website in a window that cannot be closed.”
Sexual predators prowl the Internet because, as Cooper et al have established, “role playing and misrepresentation is a typical feature of online sexual pursuits,” with many chatmates changing their age, race and gender. A common ploy of online pedophiles is to masquerade as teenagers.
Because it is difficult for the state or other bodies to regulate “the anonymity, affordability, and accessibility of Internet sexual resources,” Schneider recommends that homes and schools station the computer in a commonly accessible place; install a screening filter device to block pornographic sites; regulate the use of live video equipment from the computer; and delete all files with sexual or romantic content, sexually connected e-mail and website addresses.
As in any addiction, therapy and self-help recovery must be sought, for instance through the 12-step recovery program of Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. Such a group regularly meets at the Redemptorist Parish.
As antidotes for cyber ills, concern and support can still work wonders.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 3, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
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