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Need Advice or SupportI got to know about a 16yo teen girl who watches porn. Should I do something about it?
Her laptop was having some problems with BSOD, and her mom asked me to look into it. I did manage to restore the laptop and installed some basic apps, like Chrome and Firefox. After logging in, it restored all her history, and there were porn links.
Didn't see what kind of porn, but it sure was those porn tube websites. I just closed the apps and handed her the laptop back.
Should I say anything to her? I am definitely not gonna say anything to her mom, but maybe to her ? Or is it just not my place? I did what I was asked, and that's it.
I and all of my peers were absolutely consuming porn at that age and any adult trying to scold me about it would have been met with the stupidest rebellious double down nonsense. Teens doing something they understand to be "private" is going to be defended no matter how stupid and shameful they actually feel about it, so narcing is going to backfire hard. The best you can do is drop hints, be a good example and accept that kids do dumb shit growing up. If it's any consolation, I went cold turkey when I was nineteen for reasons completely unrelated to ethics and misogyny, and now here I am.
I and all of my peers were absolutely consuming porn at that age
That's exactly what I was thinking. Nobody I know didn't do it as well at that age. Even if you didn't discover it yourself, those who watch it would tell you about it to watch
Just tell the mother what you found, it's up to her to deal with it and she should be informed as the parent. Saying something yourself when it's not a family member can end with you in trouble. Just don't go there, there's no good circumstance that you would even be able to bring that up with the kid.
I would not say anything unless you do know that mom well and even if you did I would proceed with caution. Lot of ways this could backfire.
It is unfortunately normal for a teen to be watching porn, because it is available, and the behavior to seek it out as a curious and hormonal youth is a normal one. The trouble is that porn itself is not normal, but she grew up in a world where it is considered such. This is unfortunate but it is extremely common. I would not breach this with her, personally. This could backfire badly.
Maybe if porn or the sexualization of women and girls came up organically in conversation, I would try to make some points about it without discussing her own search history.
I don’t think you should say anything to the mother.
I do think the girl should be warned that some of the sites she’s visiting may be compromising her cyber security.
How do you know this kid?
I would be really cautious about discussing sex/porn with a teenager I didn't have direct responsibility for.