Warning Signs of Harmful Porn Use
An obvious sign of harmful pornography use is a lack of sex in your marriage. Additional warning signs that you or your spouse may have an unhealthy relationship with porn include:11
- Allowing easy access to pornographic magazines, videos, and computer files to other family members
- Demanding an unusual amount of privacy on the computer
- Dismissing a partner’s feelings on the issue
- Excessive masturbation
- Feeling anxious, stressed, or moody when unable to access porn
- Feeling unable to stop viewing porn despite negative consequences
- Lying about or hiding porn use
- Neglecting family, social, or work obligations to view porn
- Refusing to discuss the issue
- Spending an increasing amount of time watching porn
- Staying up late at night to spend time on the computer
Risks
Exposure to any sexual media, even non-pornographic forms, can influence your sexual attitudes and behavior.8 This can cause problems any time you encounter a movie, TV show, or work of fiction that depicts sex in an unrealistic manner, but it also makes specific types of porn more concerning.
Porn that promotes unrealistic body images, risky or unsafe sexual behavior, sexism, or violence may be particularly problematic. This is even more of an issue for adolescents and younger adults whose sexuality isn’t established yet.9
Frequent porn use may also lead to desensitization toward sex—specifically, men who use porn more often show less activity in areas in the brain that are normally activated during sex.10 It’s not clear whether this is caused by porn, or if men who are already desensitized to sex are more likely to use porn.
Porn should be used in moderation. Porn can be addictive, in the same way that other gratifying behaviors like gambling can be.