Religious Israeli Teens Frequent Inappropriate Websites, Survey Reveals
Being religious doesn’t prevent Israeli teens from looking at pornography, a new survey has revealed.
According to numbers released by Olam Katan, a Shabbat publication devoted to the country’s religious youth, just under 30 percent of of religious teens look at “religiously inappropriate” Web sites, while an even higher number – 37 percent – admit they’ve figured out how to circumvent parental-control software, which is now present in 50 percent of religious households. Attending a yeshiva rather than a less religious high school makes no difference in porn use, according to responses from the survey’s 902 participants.
The results, reported by Israeli news Web site NRG, showed that Internet use in general has risen significantly among religious youth, with observant teens now spending a third more time online – six hours per day – than they did five years ago.
Their overall Internet use reflects that of other teens, with the religious spending 46 percent of their time on Facebook and 34 percent on YouTube.
The numbers – or at least those related to pornography – inspired debate on NRG’s Web site, as well as jokes that will be familiar even to the non-religious.
One-third of observant teens view pornography, one reader wrote, and “two-thirds are lying.”
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