The Internet has made hardcore pornography more accessible than ever before in human history. More people visit pornographic sites than Twitter, Netflix and Hulu combined. As the prevalence of pornography grows online and in popular culture, so does nearly forty years of scientific evidence that viewing pornography has catastrophic effects on our lives.

When we talk to our children about cyber safety and appropriate online behavior we must address the issue of online pornography. Talking to your child about sex is not easy. The mere thought of having to talk about pornography will produce significant levels of anxiety in most parents. Not only are you faced with the uncomfortable task of talking to your child about why they should not view pornography, but you will be fighting the prevailing popular cultural view that pornography is victimless and beneficial. Nothing could be further from the truth. Next to street drugs and alcohol abuse, pornography is becoming one of our society’s most serious public health issues.

Waiting until your child is exposed to pornography to address this issue can be heartbreaking. I have spoken to parents from all over the United States, and they have shared their personal agony with me when they discovered their child was exposed to online pornography. Sometimes this exposure was unintentional, and sometimes their child was seeking it out. Their stories are all so similar. They are shocked at how easy it was for their eight-year-old to accidentally land on a hardcore pornographic site. How disturbing and extreme the sex acts portrayed on the homepage of the website were, and their sense of guilt and failure of not better protecting their child.

When we talk to our child about pornography, I don’t think it is enough to say: “Just don’t watch it.” This is not a compelling argument against all the hormones and neural chemicals flooding their brains when they look at porn. When it comes to dr ...