8615 Ridgely’s Choice Drive
Suite 212
Baltimore, MD 21236
Tel: (410) 529-
Fax: (410) 529-
Suite 212
Baltimore, MD 21236
Tel: (410) 529-
Fax: (410) 529-
WebMaster: Edward Lehwald
Is Pornography An Epidemic?
By John Lewis, L.C.S.W.-C.
When we think of epidemics, we think of the Bird Flu, Bubonic plague and other pandemics that have destroyed countless human lives. However, we do not think of pornography this way, because either we do not realize the severity of the problem or we deny it saying that will not happen to us. The research is surprising and disheartening, because it shows trends that point to this problem getting worse instead of better.
In February 1946, at the University of Pennsylvania the world’s first general-purpose electronic computer was introduced. ENIAC (The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), which filled a 30-by-50 foot room and weighed 50 tons used enough electricity every second to power a typical home for a week. Today, a pocket calculator contains more computing power then ENIAC did.
In the late 70’s and 80’s, to run a computer program “punch cards” were submitted to run on a mainframe computer. We thought that was the most innovative operation at the time. Now, to run a computer program we double click a mouse on a desktop icon. The one major innovation we didn’t foresee then was the advent of the digital age when everything from documents and songs to graphics and pictures could be turned into a digital representation of 1’s and 0’s then be broken down, transmitted, and be reformed exactly like the original on the other end of the process. This has given us a tremendous ability to share information across the globe at an instant making our world smaller and more of a global economy.
Unfortunately, along with the harnessed good of modern computers, there are people who use the same technology to further pathological addictions and vices. Pornography is not new and has been around for millennia. There have been Frescos of pornography discovered on the walls of Pompeii, Italy, which remained buried by feet of ash and pumice after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The difference from that period to today being that they were crude drawings and not the real-life digital photographic images that today’s computers can display.
Pornography revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises. It amounts to 57 billion worldwide and 12 billion in the U.S. alone, which exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC (6.2 billion). There are 4.2 million porn websites (12% of all websites) and there are 68 million daily pornographic search engine requests. Sexual solicitations of youth in chat rooms are approximately 89%. Worldwide there are 79 million people visiting pornographic websites annually. (Next Page)
By John Lewis, L.C.S.W.-
When we think of epidemics, we think of the Bird Flu, Bubonic plague and other pandemics that have destroyed countless human lives. However, we do not think of pornography this way, because either we do not realize the severity of the problem or we deny it saying that will not happen to us. The research is surprising and disheartening, because it shows trends that point to this problem getting worse instead of better.
In February 1946, at the University of Pennsylvania the world’s first general-
Unfortunately, along with the harnessed good of modern computers, there are people who use the same technology to further pathological addictions and vices. Pornography is not new and has been around for millennia. There have been Frescos of pornography discovered on the walls of Pompeii, Italy, which remained buried by feet of ash and pumice after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The difference from that period to today being that they were crude drawings and not the real-
Pornography revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises. It amounts to 57 billion worldwide and 12 billion in the U.S. alone, which exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC (6.2 billion). There are 4.2 million porn websites (12% of all websites) and there are 68 million daily pornographic search engine requests. Sexual solicitations of youth in chat rooms are approximately 89%. Worldwide there are 79 million people visiting pornographic websites annually. (Next Page)