How new technology gets us addicted to porn
Computers with high-speed internet connections have affected the world, similar to the printing press. We got new jobs, new ways to study, travel, have fun and have sex. So how does technology transform our sex urges and can watching porn become addictive?
Adult content over the years
Pornography has materialised our dirty dreams for millennia, but with the advent of 3D and VR, it’s becoming more tangible, exciting, and … disturbing. This global porn industry is worth almost $100 billion, that is a 10% of the global market. The significance of the adult movie industry waas humorously portrayed in HBO's Silicon Valley geek TV series.
Today you can enjoy an X-rated clip on your mobile device practically anywhere. In 2008 only 1% of mobile users were able to stream adult content from their phones. In a decade the number rose to 75%. In 2006, 34% of people accessed online porn, while most users were still served by magazines and DVDs. Today almost all users have easy access to porn sites.
Pornographic art existed in various shapes and forms since ancient times, but the past two decades of high-speed internet connection changed everything.
It would take 173 years to watch the 1.5 million hours available on one site PornHub.
How it works
Lewd visuals are stimulating to look at because they set off a reward system — an old part of the brain. It encourages actions which raise our chances of survival and pass on our genes to the next generation. This part favours food, sex, love, and friendship above all else, as well the thirst for knowledge and exciting novelty. These are needs that bring us essential pleasure.
This pleasure is made possible by the production of dopamine, which is responsible for the warm fuzzy feeling we get when we’re happy. It has an apparent purpose — makes us want something good for survival and reproduction. Once we’ve tried that, we want to do more and more to feel that way again. Looking at an attractive scantily clad body is a great way to raise dopamine levels.
If the levels are not high enough or it is virtually non-existent, your body will respond with total indifference to either a once loved chocolate bar of a promising sexual encounter.
Modern porn may be referred to as a supernormal stimulus — bigger brighter and more attractive than the regular ones. They’re so strong, they force birds, butterflies and other living things to abandon their real-life spouses, their eggs and nests. For example, female birds were so mesmerised by brightly coloured plastic eggs. They abandoned their lot less colourful and more modest eggs.
In terms of pornography, the supernormal stimulus is incited by the never-ending feeling of novelty. Our reward system loves it because curiosity and love for exploring are essential for survival. Especially if that novelty is the new sexual partner, you can use to multiply. This phenomenon is known as the Coolidge effect. It clearly shows how sexual novelty controls our actions. It is also observed in animals. Even male rats placed with a group of female companions will eventually get bored of all the attention and will immediately refocus on the newly arrived lady rat. He’d have sex with every new partner till he gets exhausted. Other experiments also prove similar behaviour in women. Since reproduction is the top priority, a new partner will inevitably induce a rise in dopamine.
X-rated videos have a significant impact on our brain. First of all, HD porn offers us a wide choice of extraordinary, physically perfect partners, accessible and eager for contact.
Secondly, it’s an exotic experience you might have never attempted in real life, like threesomes, group sex or a bizarre Kama Sutra position. Thirdly, video content is taking over, and porn is one of the areas that benefit the most, as the high resolution and editing out all the boring and awkward moments leave a concise and “to the point” piece that affects our brain a lot more than some static photo of another centrefold.
This is what happens when there is an overproduction of dopamine. To maintain the chemical balance, your brain gives an order to cut down on dopamine’s production. As a result, the smaller natural rewards such as healthy eating, regular sport, real-life relationships become plain and tasteless, no longer bringing the necessary amount of joy. You look for more extreme ways to get dopamine. But the higher the dopamine levels are, the more unsettled and unhappy you feel.
Porn addiction
The last edition of DSM-5 in 2013 included game addiction as a disorder, but porn was still not on the list. It is mostly because so far, the approach to studying these conditions was possible only through the symptom analysis and only recently psychiatry got a chance to study the actual organ that gets sick — the brain.
And once the system is broken, it can lead to other pretty tangible conditions from anxiety to erectile dysfunction and inability to reach orgasm with a real partner.
There is also experience of the people from online groups like NoFap, where millions of users share their stories of porn addiction. However, these data arrays are yet to be properly collected and analysed by researchers.