Warning as 11-year-olds are given access to online porn A consultation into whether internet users should have to "opt-in" to access adult content closed last month and the findings are expected to be published later this year. Prof Phippen said: "It's common practice for kids today to watch internet porn. One thing that clearly came out of it was issues around desensitisation. Some people are getting hooked on the porn and then are not able to perform in the real world. It can give people unrealistic expectations. It can be very damaging for some people. The research surveyed 1,000 young people, with some saying they first watched pornography "aged 11 or 12." One secondary school pupil, aged 14, told researchers he "couldn't believe there was anyone in his year who hadn't seen it." Prof Phippen added: "If this is how you first come across this sort of thing that is a concern. If you have someone accessing hard core porn from the age of 12, what's that going to do to them? He said the Government and schools needed to realise that pornography was not just for "deviant" youngsters, adding that issues had to be tackled in the classroom. "The information gathered will now be used to look at how our education system addresses this issue in schools," he said. Pupils have told me that this sort of stuff isn't covered in their sex education lessons and they want it to be. But how do members of staff go about something that is this difficult to approach? That's something that can hopefully be tackled in the future. The research found that a third of people aged 16 to 24 found sex with partners difficult because of what they had seen online. Sharon Chapman, from Relate, one of the largest providers of counselling for children, said that pornography distorted a person's view of what a "normal sex life could and should be like."