Mark’s Story – I Was Addicted To Porn At Age 12

A couple years ago, we received an email from a kid named Mark who wanted to share his story with us. He started the letter off by saying:

I’ll try to make this short. Hopefully it is meaningful to some people. I don’t expect anyone to change his or her ways because of me, but I’m hoping they will AT LEAST consider reading my story and consider fighting this nasty drug/addiction. Why is it called a drug? Let’s just say it controlled my brain just like any addictive drug would. 

We posted Mark’s story on our blog and people really responded to it. The sad truth is that Mark’s story is one that is so common amongst young men in our generation. Growing up with unlimited access to every imaginable form of pornography conceivable creates serious issues for the viewer. When a young boy is exposed to hardcore pornography and then frequently views it for years and years after, the harmful effects can take a serious toll on his mental and sexual health.

Over a year after receiving Mark’s letter, we were able to sit down with him and talk about how pornography took hold of him at a young age. Mark’s message is one that needs to be heard by everyone. It is a real life example of how pornography rewires the brain and can become a difficult addiction to beat. Gary Wilson, author of Your Brain On Porn, recently said in an interview talking about young men today: “By the time they find real partners, perhaps as much as a decade later, some guys discover they have trained intensely… for the wrong sport. (These young men) had simply conditioned their sexual response to screens, isolation, constant novelty, shock/surprise, fetish porn and watching other people have sex. Their problems with real partners resolved only months after they quit porn.”