Porn addiction is one of the global issues of concern right now. The porn industry is booming currently, attracting traffic like no other industry on the globe. It’s a fact that we live in a highly sexual world. Everything we do and say seems to have a sexual connotation lately. Keeping this in mind it’s not surprising that 40% of men and 25% of women in first-world countries have admitted to having a porn addiction, as per the American Psychiatric Association. While age isn’t a factor that decides whether one gets or not. Porn addiction is widely prevalent among individuals in the age-group of 15 – 23 and 45 – 65.
But, it doesn’t affect everyone. Not everyone who watches porn gets addicted. Porn addiction is similar to any other substance addiction. Take alcohol consumption for example. A large chunk of the population is most likely to have tried alcohol before they reach their peak adult life. With this example, it’s safe to say that not everyone who experiments with it, ends up being an alcoholic in the future. Their drinking habits don’t affect their life, life decisions, or the lives of the people around them. However, a small percentage of this population does develop a problem related to alcohol use.
It works the same way with porn addiction. Almost everyone today has come across porn at least once in their lifetime. Doesn’t mean we’ll all fall prey to porn addiction if we indulge in it once or twice. But, some people might. Our individual behaviour and the wiring of our brain causes this. Based on how we react as individuals, online porn users can be divided into three types.
The Three Types Of Porn Users
Based on the amount of time an individual spends online watching pornography and their viewing patterns, online porn users can be classified into three categories:
1. Casual/Recreational
This group includes individuals who watch pornography for fun. They find it sexually stimulating. These users usually watch porn for less than 30 minutes every week. They do not put in a lot of effort to access pornography and have no desire to watch it compulsively. For a casual/recreational user, porn usage is usually a matter of novelty and curiosity.
The people who fall into this category find porn enjoyable but are ultimately not satisfied by it. They’d much rather prefer real-life sexual interactions. This is the healthiest group of porn users when among the three.
A survey recently conducted found that the two most prominent groups falling under this category are adult women and people in healthy relationships. Over time this group has reported higher sexual satisfaction and lower incidents of sexual dysfunction.
2. Distressed
Psychology experts have often called this group the ‘at-risk’ group. Technically this group watches less porn than recreational users. But, when they do watch pornographic content, it involves periods of intense engagement.
Users falling under this category often spend less than 17 minutes every week watching porn. The time spent on pornography is less here. But, it is the viewing pattern of the individuals that are unhealthy in this scenario. Users here watch porn occasionally in impulsive spurts. But what makes this group stand out from the rest two groups is the emotional distress that viewing porn causes these users.
The users in this category related viewing porn with the feeling of guilt, disgust, sadness, and shame. The act of viewing porn brought them more troubling emotions than sexual satisfaction.
The guilt and self-disgust here can be attributed to the stigma and taboo that surrounds the topic of porn and sexuality in our society. This unhealthy mindset often stops individuals from exploring their sexuality in a healthy way. Unless this taboo surrounding pornography is dealt with, the situation at hand isn’t going to get any better.
3. Compulsive
These users are either completely addicted or borderline addicted to internet porn. Users falling under this category watched an average of 110 minutes of internet porn every week.
Like with any other addiction, people here often tended to watch porn to numb their emotions. The more and more porn they watch, the higher amount of dopamine is secreted by your brain. This is how you get addicted, as your brain starts relating the two together. If you try to not watch porn a while, your body runs out of dopamine and starts craving it. This is how the cravings for porn begin and so begins the cycle of porn addiction.
Users belonging to this category tend to lie about how much porn they watch and can go to great lengths to access pornography. They tend to develop an unhealthy relationship with porn, which ends up affecting their relationships in real life. Such users end up avoiding sexual interactions with their partner. Adultery is also common among members of this group.
Compulsive users having a tendency towards addictive behaviours, tend to face a large number of mental and physical health issues. Some of which are, Erectile dysfunction, Depression, Chronic Loneliness and Anxiety disorders.
Everything’s Good In Moderation
Now, it’s safe to say that not everyone who watches porn has porn addiction problems. But if you’ve stumbled across this article, then you were probably wondering if porn use is good or bad. Do you love and appreciate porn? But you’re worried about the side effects? Whatever the reason might be, hope this article helps you figure out which category you fall into.
Watching porn is not the problem. In fact, experts believe it is healthy to indulge in porn every once in a while. Porn and masturbation are both good for sexual health. But only if used in moderation. When usage gets out of hand, is when the problem starts.
If you’d like more information on porn addiction and how to deal with it, you can find all the information on our blog page. If you feel you’re severely addicted to pornography and need intervention, you can download the BlockerX app to block porn on your phone and seek professional help if needed.
