Gen Z Grappling With Porn Addiction, Must Be Counselled Out Of It: Madras High Court

Justice Anand Venkatesh observed that children in Generation Z are grappling with this issue and suggested that the society should, instead of damning them, come forward and be mature enough to advise and educate them out of this addiction.

“The Generation Z Children are grappling with this serious problem and instead of damning and punishing them, the society must be mature enough to properly advice and educate them and try to counsel them to get rid of that addiction. The education must start from the school level since exposure to adult material starts at that stage itself,” the court observed.

The court added that like other addictions, porn could be understood through the principle of “operant conditioning” where an act was reinforced or rewarded making a person want to do it again. The court noted that porn could be easily reinforcing as it rewarded the very basic instinctual drive-sex.

“Lots of different things can be reinforcing, and thus influence our behavior, but porn can be especially reinforcing because the reward taps into a very basic instinctual drive - sex. Therefore, it is very easy to become addicted to porn - it is accessing a fundamental (and very enjoyable) natural drive. It is also much easier to obtain than going out and finding a "mate" to fulfill this drive,” the court added.

The court also noted a recent study concerning porn statistics in teens. According to this data, 9 out of 10 boys were exposed to pornography before the age of 18 and 6 out of 10 girls were exposed to pornography before 18 years of age. Further, the court noted that on average, a male's first exposure to pornography was at the age of 12 years and teenage boys, between 12 and 17 years of age were at the highest risk of developing a porn addiction. The court also noted that 71% of teens had done something to hide their online acts from their parents.

The court also observed that viewing pornography could have a negative impact on the psychological and physical well being of individuals.

In the present case, the court was hearing a quash petition filed by a man accused of having child pornography. During the course of the hearing, the man admitted that he had a habit of watching pornography and was trying to get rid of that habit. The court advised the man to attend counselling of he was still having the addiction and hoped that the man gets rid of the addiction for a happy and healthy future

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr.J.N.Naresh Kumar

Counsel for the Respondents: Mr.A.Damodaran Additional Public Prosecutor

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 17

Case Title: S Harish v Inspector of Police and Another

Case No: CRL.O.P No.37 of 2024