Are You Watching Too Much Porn? A Quick Checklist

According to Pornhub’s website traffic data, people worldwide are watching a lot more porn while staying home during COVID-19.

Like… a lot more. Which means you are most likely masturbating more, too. But, how much porn and masturbation is too much?

Well, the answer is not that simple. It’s a combination of factors, but here are some of the factors to watch for so you can get an idea if your porn and masturbation habits are becoming a problem.

You are sneaking away to watch porn and masturbate.
You notice you are watching more extreme porn.
You find that if you want to watch porn, but can’t, you become moody and grumpy.
You want to reduce/stop watching porn or reduce/stop masturbating but find it difficult or impossible.
Porn and masturbating are getting in the way of enjoying, or even having, sex with your partner.
You find that porn or masturbating is getting in the way of work, your schedule, or other things you’d like to be doing.
You turn down opportunities to (virtually) socialize to watch porn or masturbate instead.
Activities you used to do you have been replaced with porn or masturbating.
Your genitals hurt from masturbating, but you do it anyway knowing you are hurting your body.
It is increasingly difficult to have an orgasm when watching porn.

Find yourself in some of these situations?

Well, you aren’t alone.

This list is a lot like a list of behaviors you might find yourself looking at if you had a drug or alcohol problem. Porn triggers your brain in very similar ways that drugs or alcohol do. Don’t think the porn industry knows that? Think again! The porn industry is aware of how porn influences your brain. They use that knowledge as part of their strategy to get you to consume more of their product – its similar to how McDonalds uses certain colors in advertising to trigger your brain to tell your body you are hungry.

So, it might not be entirely your fault that you are having this issue and it’s not something you need to be ashamed of. I have worked with many people in my practice who had porn or masturbation addictions and you aren’t alone. It’s one of the few addictive consumables that you never have to leave your house to get and it’s a significant problem in more people’s lives than you may realize.

Is it bad?

The difficult thing is that porn and masturbation in and of themselves aren’t bad for your brain (this post isn’t focusing on the societal implications of them, so we will leave that out, for now). But, too much porn can rewire your brain, desensitize you to sex and touch, and make you crave the unrealistic settings, sex acts, and drives the need for the instant gratification that porn delivers.

What to do about it.

There is no simple answer and masturbating is linked to healthy benefits. It has a higher likelihood to become unhealthy when it is coupled with porn, which often causes you to masturbate more than you would have normally. Like any addiction, porn addiction is often filling a need of some kind. Understanding what that need is and resolving that need, often from your past, can significantly to help resolve the issue.

If you think your habits have gotten out of hand and would like to talk about it, I’m happy to help, just reach out!

Michael