So, you’re done with the cooking and cleaning for the day, answered the work calls you had, a video called your parents, watched two movies on Netflix and now you’ve no idea what else to do. You then start browsing the online stores for a while and eventually end up at a porn site. You are not alone.
According to new data from Porn Hub, people are finding creative ways to pass the time amid the pandemic – like watching porn.
The porn site recently reported traffic has steadily increased by 11.6% since February 24 to March 17 as the pandemic has spread and lockdowns have been instituted in major cities and countries around the world.
However, people aren’t just watching more porn right now, they’re also watching more coronavirus-themed porn. In the last 30 days, more than 9 million coronavirus searches have appeared on the porn website. There are also now more than 1,000 videos that pop up on the site when you search for “coronavirus.”
After 40 years of research, scholars can say with confidence that porn is an industrial product that shapes how we think about gender, sexuality, relationships, intimacy, sexual violence and gender equality. If you’re a frequent user of porn, as millions are, you should be aware of the potential drawbacks for you and those around you.
Is it OK to watch porn?
Porn is one way that people use to get excited, and it can help them get in the mood to masturbate or have sex. People might use it on their own or with their partners.
It becomes a problem if the porn you like is illegal or shows violence. It can also be a problem if you find you are watching porn so often that it’s affecting your day-to-day life, and it is taking you away from having healthy relationships with people.
Why is Porn Addictive?
All addiction can be characterized as a hijacking of the brain’s reward system. The human brain is designed to reward us for activities that help us survive and succeed in life. It does this primarily with a chemical called dopamine, a hormone that both makes us feel good and motivates us to seek out the thing or activity that made us feel good. Dopamine release constitutes a “high,” and we experience it when we eat good food, laugh at a joke or engage in sexual activity.
Why are people addicted to porn? It’s in large part due to this dopamine reward.
Am I a Porn Addict?
Typical signs of porn addiction include:
- Hours, sometimes even days, lost to viewing pornography
- Escalating amounts of time spent on porn use and/or viewing progressively more extreme, intense, or bizarre sexual content
- Continued porn use despite negative life consequences
- Continued porn use despite promises made to self or others to stop
- Lying, keeping secrets, and covering up the nature and extent of porn use
- Anger or irritability if asked to stop
- Reduced or even non-existent interest in sexual, physical, and emotional connections with spouses or partners
Can watching too much Porn affect my sex life?
Common complaints about porn-induced male sexual dysfunction include:
Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction
Porn stimulates the arousal centres in the brain. When it’s accompanied by orgasm (sexual release through masturbation), then a chemical reaction happens and hormones are released. In effect, our brains start to associate arousal with an image, an idea, or a video, rather than a person.
Many men hold off their ejaculation when masturbating to porn for as long as possible, known as ‘edging’, holding out for the ‘perfect scene’ to orgasm to. When it comes to sex with a real partner, they may find themselves unable to climax because they are not faced with the high levels of visual stimulation that they are used to ejaculating to.
Some studies show that excessive porn watching and masturbation can result in developing the habit of climaxing quickly. While quickly achieving orgasm during masturbation may be convenient, you may be teaching yourself habits that are hard to break in a relationship.
When someone becomes addicted to porn, they actually lose interest in real sex. Not only that, but they actually find their partner less attractive when compared to the people seen in porn.
Studies have also been carried out that explain how repeated exposure to high level of sexual stimuli raises the arousal threshold and leads, initially to problems with erections, and then to low libido.
If you find porn-watching to be compulsive, mandatory, or excessive and it has caused your sexual function to deteriorate, it might be time to talk to a health care professional.
