Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
Some experts have determined four major brain changes common to addicted brains—sensitization, desensitization, hypofrontality, and a malfunctioning stress system— all of which can be found in cases of pornography consumption.
The majority of young people are exposed to porn by the time they’re 13, according to research involving young people in the UK.
A 2017 poll found that the more porn a man consumes, the more likely he is to be dissatisfied with his penis size. And the same goes for women with male partners— the more porn they consume, the less satisfied they are with their partner’s penis size.
According to a nationally representative survey of U.S. teens, 84.4% of 14 to 18-year-old males and 57% of 14 to 18-year-old females have viewed pornography.
Porn is considered a supernormal stimulus.
Research has demonstrated that overcoming a pornography habit is absolutely possible, and that over time, pornography’s negative effects can be managed and largely reversed.
Research has found that therapy is an effective way to treat problematic pornography consumption.
Of the adolescents who had been exposed to porn, 28% were first exposed by accident, 19% were unexpectedly shown pornography by someone else, and only 19% searched for it intentionally, according to research by the NSPCC.
Desensitization, or a numbed pleasure response, has been shown to happen in cases of pornography consumption.
Over 46% of young people reported that they saw online porn for the first time when it just “popped up”, and 22% reported that someone else showed it to them when they weren’t expecting it.
Research shows remarkable neurological similarities between substance addiction and compulsive pornography consumption.
Problematic porn consumers who are treated using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy show a 92% reduction in porn consumption, and an 86% reduction three months later.
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