Purity in the age of mobile porn

Until recently, I’d not owned a mobile phone. But I was aware of the growing need for one: as the kids get older, my family seems more and more reliant on using mobiles to keep in touch. It was inevitable; resistance was futile.

But I was also convinced I wouldn’t use it a lot. After all, I have got by without one until now! So I started looking for the most basic package I could find. I wandered into the local mobile phone shop, where a very helpful and knowledgeable fellow answered all my questions. Presto: 25 minutes later, I walked out with a phone at $20 a month, giving me more than enough SMS and calls to cover what I expected to need.

But this phone also had free unlimited access to selected websites—news, sport, and so on. It was only the next day when I was browsing the main menu of included sites that I saw the iconic bunny symbol (and I’m not talking about the mascot for the local football team). There, prominently displayed on my new mobile, was the Playboy logo. Here was mobile porn, just one click away.

I went back to the shop to enquire about removing it.

“I don’t want it”, I said. The poor fellow looked at me like I was from another planet.

“What about kids?” I asked. “How do you stop kids accessing this stuff?”

“Oh, you can use a pin number to stop them getting access to your phone.”

“But that doesn’t help me”, I said. “I know the pin number. How do I stop access for me?”

“Just don’t look at it”, he helpfully advised.

“No, you don’t understand”, said I. “I don’t even want the temptation there.”

At this point, I got the distinct impression that this was a question he was not routinely faced with. He looked apologetic, said he couldn’t help any further, and we left it at that. I went back to my office and sought further information from the phone company’s website and phone support.

The website was very helpful. It announced to me the fact that it was not just the Playboy site I now had access to, there were nine other ‘adult’ sites as well. Isn’t that fabulous?

But then I noticed an important clue: the site mentioned that you had to be over 18 to access it. If I was over 18 and had signed up to pay via direct debit, “chances are, we’ve already enabled access for you”. If not, it was easy enough; all I had to do was download a form to provide proof of age. However, there was no mention of the possibility that an adult might not want this material. So as a last resort, I downloaded the proof of age form, ticked the discreet little box to block access, and duly faxed it off.

There are two issues that this experience highlighted for me.

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1. If I had signed up for a phone for one of my children, I almost certainly would not have known that there was default access to pornography. Other parents be warned.
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2. Christians are so out-of-step when we say ‘no’ to porn. Porn has become so mainstream, it is now the assumption of a major communications network that it should automatically be given to all adult customers. In fact, it is clearly so rare that someone would want to block such access, it doesn’t even occur to them that they should present instructions on how to do so—either on their website or to their sales staff.

We live in a different and challenging world. So at the risk of turning this into an advertorial, I commend to you the very helpful new Matthias Media MiniZine Purity in the age of porn (see our website www.matthiasmedia.com.au). We need to put this MiniZine in the hands of as many blokes as possible. Don’t wait for them to buy it. If you run your church men’s group, buy copies and hand them out to them. Please don’t ask blokes to go up to the church bookstall and buy it from the lady there; she’ll only be tempted to be judgemental!