"Jie jie, can I sleep with you?" the nine-year-old boy asked a woman he barely knew as he tugged at her shirt.

Horrified, the Touch Cyber Wellness trainer who visited his school to give a cyber wellness talk referred him to the school counsellor.

Later, he confessed he had been watching pornography at home and had sexual thoughts throughout the day.

He first chanced on online erotica in Primary 2, while looking for a photo of a naked aboriginal boy for a project.

"I was so shocked that I ran off," he told the trainer.

But the images captured his imagination, and he looked at them whenever he was alone at home. Soon after, he was looking through such pictures twice a week and touching himself. He said: "I know it is not good as it affects my thinking. But it felt good, and I couldn't control myself."

The counsellor roped in his parents, who installed filtering software in his computer and had more open discussions about sex. After a year of counselling, he has broken free of his addiction and learnt to channel his energies elsewhere, such as sports.

For a 14-year-old girl, her habit of viewing pornography thrice weekly started a year ago when she searched for it online to satisfy her curiosity.

She had been avidly reading romance novels, many of which had graphic love-making scenes. Her close friends also often talked about how their boyfriends would watch pornography regularly.

Watching pornography and masturbation satisfied her, but also left her feeling guilty, ashamed and inadequate. The women she saw online had fuller breasts compared with hers. She searched online for breast enhancement supplements.

"It affected the way I felt about myself, and I began to feel insecure about my diet and dressing," she told a counsellor, who then worked with her to create a more positive body image and build up her self-esteem.

She said: "I used to want so much to look like a porn star. I am slowly learning that that is not how all women look."

JANICE TAI