Perhaps a more interesting — and more accurate — way to figure out where college students are going online is to assess which of the 172 web categories tracked by Hitwise get the most hits from 18- to 24-year-olds. Here's a shocker: Porn is not No. 1. I've actually been puzzled
by the decrease in visits to the Adult Entertainment category over the last two years. Visits to porn sites have dropped from 16.9% of all site visits in the U.S. in October 2005 to 11.9% as of last week, a 33% decline. Currently, for web users over the age of 25, Adult Entertainment still ranks high in popularity, coming in second, after search engines. Not so for 18- to 24-year-olds, for whom social networks rank first, followed by search engines, then web-based e-mail — with porn sites lagging behind in fourth. Imagine that. Among those described as sex-crazed and quickest-to-jump-in-bed is a phenomenon. When they have the choice to view either a scantily clad individual or IM their friends, they choose the latter. It's a generation that is hungry to belong. They want to integrate their lives with others. They are living in authenticity and community. Young adults are living life together - via the internet. They've been able to go beneath the superficialities of sex and to experience life at its fullest - true & meaningful relationships.
Maybe those of us who think the next generation has one foot already in hell need to step back and take a deeper look. It seems that age group has begun to recognize what their fathers have not recognized. (Currently, for web users over the age of 25, Adult Entertainment still ranks high in popularity, coming in second, after search engines.) It seems that while the parents may be still driven by sex, the children are driven by love - genuine, meaningful, committed love. The love of God, perhaps?
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