Our children will grow up with greater access to technology than ever before, but with access comes a high risk of exposure to unsavory content like pornography — potentially at a very young age.

A recent “New York Times” article, “So How Do We Talk About This? When Children See Internet Pornography,” notes that technology and explicit images are so rampant that typical preventative measures may not cut it:

Conventional wisdom has held that strict rules about screen time and installing filtering software will solve the problem. But given the number of screens, large and small, that fill the average American home, those strategies may be as effective as building a bunker in the sand while the tide rolls in.

The article outlines several strategies parents are adopting when their children get an eyeful. Some try to teach their children to immediately click away from anything explicit; others use a combination of filtering, especially for younger children, and open talk with older kids about what they may have seen.

After his 12-year-old son downloaded a racy iPhone app, one father decided to try to channel his son’s curiosity by allowing him access to one particular site with “pictures of naked women that were not much racier than what might appear in the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.” Other parents have simply accepted that their children will find a way:

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Others who assumed their children would eventually search for pornography said that they had tried to teach them to be, in effect, responsible consumers: they showed them how to be discreet, erase browsing histories and avoid malware, and they instructed them never to share pictures of themselves or explicit content with others, especially younger children. (Experts caution that showing minors sexually explicit material could, in some states, violate “harmful to minors” laws.)

For most parents, though, a frank talk about pornography is inescapable. Sex educators recommend parents adopt a calm attitude so that children feel comfortable going to parents with questions without feeling like they’ll be judged or condemned. They also recommend getting a dialogue started early instead of waiting for a child to stumble across something, forcing the issue.

Dana, a divorced mother of three in Massachusetts, assumed her sons would seek out pornography and thought it was normal for her 9-year-old to want to look at pictures of naked women. But when he was 13, he asked why women liked to be choked. She then realized she needed to explain to him that pornography isn’t real and that the people are paid actors.

Unlike many parents, Dana had an opportunity to help her son understand what had upset him, which is why therapists … say that keeping the lines of conversation open is the best safeguard against any potential harm.

However we confront the issue, it may crop up sooner than we realize. The article profiles one mother whose 6-year-old stumbled onto a graphic video while watching “My Little Pony” videos online.

What kind of limits, if any, do you think you’ll set on your children’s technology use to combat these situations? How will you deal with the issue if they see something you think is inappropriate?