By Grace Kim

The culture of pornography has invaded our lives, especially those of the younger generation, through the media proportionately to the increasing use of the Internet and social networking services.

The average age at which a child first views Internet porn is becoming alarmingly lower, a trend that calls for immediate attention. In the U.S., children come into contact with porn at an average age of 11 and as many as 90 percent of children ages 8-16 have viewed porn online, according to research organizations.

Given the staggering statistics about Internet pornography, it is no wonder that the porn industry has been amassing money that exceeds the revenues of corporation giants Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, and Netflix combined.

The number of pornography addicts has reached approximately 200,000 and 42.7 percent of Internet users view porn, according to The Christian Post. A new porn video is produced every 30 minutes and 30,000 view porn every second in the U.S.

The U.S. attempted three acts to regulate pornography with varying degrees of success. The Supreme Court ruled the first two unconstitutional for violating the First Amendment, the freedom of speech. The third act went into effect but filtering software in public libraries seems insufficient to crack pornography.

One look at social networking services explains why the porn revenue keeps stacking up. On MySpace, for example, teenage girls imitate porn-inspired pictures and poses. The accessories they wear in these pictures such as corsets and heels, once the signature attire of porn stars, have become commonplace in the life of teens.

Korea ranks first in porn industry revenue per capita by country, reported Newsweek, an American weekly news magazine.

The writer is a Korea Times intern.