Well, is porn bad? Is watching porn bad when you’re in a relationship? Is porn bad for you in some unexpected ways? It’s easy to start asking these questions when you’re in the midst of a porn binge watch late at night. Or perhaps you’ve recently discovered pornography and are wondering if you should keep watching it. Maybe you’ve even experienced some unintended consequences from your porn consumption.
The reality is that many people are watching pornography. Roughly 6 in 10 Americans report having watched porn at some point in their lives, shares the Institute for Family Studies. Even a well-known porn site is now the fourth most visited website in the US, shares Brigham Young University, only behind Google, Youtube, and Facebook. So with all of its popularity, is porn bad or good for you?
Is Porn Bad? It Depends
Google is porn bad and you may get various answers. Some people tout pornography’s benefits as helpful for exploring your sexuality and understanding your desires. Others may see it as a way to learn about sex and sex techniques. Watching pornography may even make you feel better in the moment or relieve some stress. All of these outcomes may be viewed as good in their own right.
It’s hard to equate the pornographic content itself as being inherently bad or good. However, when you realize what porn does to your brain, your body, your relationships, and ultimately, your life, you may also realize that watching porn is bad for you. In fact, watching porn regularly over time can lead to a number of negative outcomes that outweigh the “good” ones in the previous paragraph. Even if you’re careful about your porn usage, the fallout of watching porn can generate some unfortunate long-term consequences.
Why is Watching Porn Bad?
Watching pornography may not be bad for everyone. But for many, it can cause some real issues that aren’t worth the risk of watching it. Over time, as you watch more and more porn, it may do the following to you:
It Can Mess with Your Brain
Is porn bad for your brain, really? Yes it can be, actually. As mentioned previously, pornography generates a feel-good experience, and that’s because of what it does to your brain. When you watch porn, your brain releases a large amount of the pleasure chemical dopamine, signaling to you that the experience is rewarding.
This dopamine release drives you to seek out more porn to achieve the same feel-good effects. But eventually as you watch porn regularly, your brain gets overwhelmed by all this dopamine, and it shuts down its dopamine receptors. So pornography’s effects no longer feel as good. And worse, other things that normally make you feel good don’t as much as they used to, either.
It Can Lead to Addiction
As pornography messes with your brain, you may be inclined to seek out more porn than you used to in order to get that original dopamine rush. And because people can watch porn as a way to cope with stress or past trauma, they may be watching porn even more regularly. Over time, your brain develops a chemical dependency on all this dopamine, which means you have a porn addiction.
But why is porn addiction bad? Porn addiction is considered compulsive sexual behavior and a hypersexual disorder. In other words, your porn consumption is now out of control and you need it to function. A pornography addiction gets in the way of your work, daily responsibilities, and social life as it takes precedence over everything else. And because hypersexuality and trauma are often connected, the unresolved trauma that’s driving your pornography usage is still there, unhealed and unaddressed.
It Can Cause Erectile Dysfunction
In questioning is porn bad, you may not be thinking about its impact on your body. However, porn and erectile dysfunction are very much intertwined among certain men who watch it regularly. Your brain can’t differentiate arousal from pornography and arousal from sex with a real person. So as you watch porn regularly, you can eventually become desensitized to sexual experiences. Real sexual activity isn’t as exciting or arousing, so it can get more challenging to get or maintain an erection, leading to porn-induced ED.
It Can Ruin Your Relationships
Porn addiction statistics show that people who consume pornography are twice as likely to later experience a breakup or divorce. That’s because porn can cause betrayal trauma in your partner and ruin the relationship you’ve established. In fact, just as you’ve been Googling is porn bad, many women are Googling my husband is addicted to porn. On the other hand, pornography can mask deeper fear of intimacy or love avoidant tendencies, keeping you from getting the real relationships you need to thrive.
Is Porn Bad? Consider the Consequences Before You Watch
So, is porn bad for you? Only you can truly decide for yourself. However, in taking a candid look at the long-term effects of pornography consumption, you’re hopefully more educated on its potential consequences. Many people who start watching pornography begin without the awareness of what it can actually do to them, only wishing later down the road they would have known much earlier. Don’t let yourself be that person.
Get Help for Porn Addiction
If you’re concerned about your porn habits or think you may be addicted, you don’t have to live in shame or fear. With the right professional help, you can overcome its hold on your life. At Integrative Life Center in Nashville, TN, our porn addiction treatment program addresses your addiction’s root causes so you can achieve lasting healing. Take our porn addiction quiz as a first step or call us today to learn more.
