Teens and pornography
Open accessAbstract
Engaging with pornography has been a rite of passage in many teens' exploration of sex, but since the early days of the internet, their access to the digital world has stoked concerns from parents and caregivers. Some worry that kids will stumble across pornography when they're too young to understand it, and others are concerned that older teens' exposure to pornography will influence unrealistic or even dangerous representations of what healthy sexual relationships look like. This new report explores how a demographically representative sample of teens in the United States engaged with or experienced pornography online, from how old they were when they first encountered it, to how it impacts their views on sex and sexual relationships. The report confirms that the majority of teen respondents age 13–17 have watched pornography online—and some have seen it by age 10 or younger. And while some have discovered it accidentally, a significant number of teens said they were viewing online pornography intentionally on a regular basis. The results of this research confirm a very important point: It's time for us to talk about pornography. We need to consider conversations with teens about pornography the same way we think of conversations about sex, social media, drug and alcohol use, and more. That said, pornography isn't for kids, and work must be done to ensure they do not encounter it accidentally.
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The engagement-based digital ecosystem may take the form of AI algorithms inferring teens' interest in harmful content.
“This engagement-based digital ecosystem may take the form of AI algorithms inferring teens’ interest in harmful content,2-4”
From Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents: Technical Report (2026) · cites this paper as [4]
The Content Filters and Parental Controls section reports that teens encounter harmful stereotypes and violent sexual content through pornography, and the Self-Reported Accidental Pornography Exposure Experiences section identifies social media as one route of exposure. Neither section attributes that exposure to AI algorithms inferring teens’ interests or to an engagement-based recommendation system. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTwo-thirds of LGBTQ+ teen respondents report intentional viewing of pornography.
“with two-thirds of LGBTQ+ teen respondents reporting intentional viewing of pornography.4”
From Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents: Technical Report (2026) · cites this paper as [4]
Fifty-eight percent of teens report encountering pornography unintentionally.
“Fifty-eight percent of teens report encountering pornography unintentionally.4”
From Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents: Technical Report (2026) · cites this paper as [4]
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Research works printed but not linked: 17
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents: Technical Report
Munzer, T., Milkovich, L. M., Madigan, S., Tomopoulos, S., Parga-Belinkie, J., Ajumobi, T., Cross, C., Gerwin, R., Council on Communications and Media, Radesky, J., et al. (2026) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2025-075321 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Robb, M. B., & Mann, S.
- Affiliations
- Common Sense Media (US)
- ORCID
- Mann, Supreet
- Publisher
- Common Sense Media
- Published
- 2023-01-10
- OpenAlex
- W7212107324
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 0
- Type
- report
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- pornography, adolescents, age of first exposure, sexual attitudes, sexual relationships, internet access, parental concerns, sex education
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