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Pornography addiction has been growing rapidly over the years. In 2014, researchers estimated around 28% of men suffered from porn addiction. Other studies found that 44% of young men have viewed porn in the last month.

Most people have no idea that pornography is addictive, let alone know the danger surrounding it. 

The thing about addiction is that it’s driven by humans innate pleasure towards food and sex. While addictive chemicals such as nicotine hijack our natural drive, pornography goes straight to the source. Pornography simulates sex and releases the same amount of dopamine that opioids normally release. However, due to the novelty of porn, it’s harder to grow tired of it.

This is called the Coolidge effect. It can be tested by putting a male rat in a cage, and then putting in one female rat after another. The male will tire of the prior females, but once a new female is introduced, he will immediately begin mating again. In the same way that a drug addict needs to take a larger or stronger dose to get a better high, a porn addict needs to watch more porn of various extremes to feel the same effect. This leads porn addicts to viewing things they might normally find disturbing or repulsive, because the taboo aspect of it releases more dopamine.

But that’s not the only effect that porn addiction can have. Studies and anecdotes can be found that link pornography usage to lower testosterone, erectile dysfunction, lowered confidence, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, depression, and lack of interest in real human relationships.

Porn addiction presents disastrous consequences, and the issue is only getting worse. Young people are being exposed to an extremely addictive substance with an unlimited supply and being told that it’s natural.

It’s no secret that teenage boys watch porn; it’s been integrated into our memes and online culture. Everyone knows the “help me stepbro, I’m stuck” meme, though most don’t think about the dangerous effects that come from this. It normalizes pornography usage amongst young teens who are most at risk of addiction.

Teens aren’t legally allowed to drink alcohol or do drugs because their brains aren’t fully developed, and yet there’s nothing stopping any kid with internet access from accessing hardcore internet pornography.

Studies show that 69% of young males have watched porn before the age of 13, with studies showing the median age being 14. That means that around 50% of young people are viewing porn before the age of 14, with many at even younger ages.

On a reddit thread asking teachers about different things they had to confiscate from students, multiple teachers reported having to confiscate phones from fourth and fifth grade students who were showing hardcore internet pornography to students in younger grades. Students as young as five are being exposed to porn by other children as young as nine or ten.

Many parents have parental controls for their kids, but there’s ways to get around blockers, and parents can’t control the phones of their child’s friends.

Although some porn sites have messages saying users have to be 18 years or older to view the site, very few implement actual methods of verifying age or preventing underaged people from accessing the content. No laws force porn sites to verify users’ age.

Why would such sites want to do this? The majority of their consumers are teenage boys, a population prone to addiction. 

They profit from that. 

They want you hopelessly addicted, so depressed that you crave porn just for temporary pleasure. They want that dopamine hit to bring you back time and time again so they can make money off of you. They want your brain destroyed so you’re too weak to refuse your urges and vices.

But you don’t need it, you don’t need that dopamine hit, you don’t need to watch porn. It’s a tough addiction to break, but it’s possible. Even if you don’t believe you’re addicted, you still watch. I challenge those who believe they’re facing an addiction to go a month without watching it and realize the benefits that follow.

For help quitting, I recommend going to Your Brain on Porn.