One of the best things about modern technology is the customization it allows us. Think about it— you decide which apps are on your home screen, what music you download, your wallpaper background, text size, keyboards, languages, etc. Many software programs can do the same thing, changing and evolving based on your tastes. Many of the most innovative technological advances are based on what you do and what you like.
There’s another supercomputer in the world that does the same thing: your brain.
Our brains are full of neuroconnectors, which link different parts of our brain together. When activated, neurons release chemicals that strengthen the connection between different parts of your brain. Bostwick, J. M. and Bucci, J. E. (2008). Internet Sex Addiction Treated with Naltrexone. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 83, 2: 226–230; Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain That Changes Itself. New York: Penguin Books, 63.Copy For example, when you eat something delicious, your brain releases dopamine, a chemical that makes you feel good. Hilton, D. L., and Watts, C. (2011). Pornography Addiction: A Neuroscience Perspective. Surgical Neurology International, 2: 19; (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050060/) Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain That Changes Itself. New York: Penguin Books, 107; Paul, P. (2007). Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families. New York: Henry Hold and Co., 75; Nestler, E. J. (2005). Is There a Common Molecular Pathway for Addiction? Nature Neuroscience 9, 11: 1445–1449.Copy Or if you hold hands with someone you care about, your brain releases a chemical called oxytocin, which helps you bond with people. Schneiderman, I., Zagoory-Sharon, O., Leckman, J., and Feldman, R. (2012). Oxytocin During the Initial Stages of Romantic Attachment: Relations to Couples’ Interactive Reciprocity. Psychoneuroendocrinology 37:1277-1285.Copy
Over time, the connections between certain things strengthen, while other connections can weaken if they aren’t used for a while.
The brain is constantly strengthening frequently used neural pathways while weakening those that aren’t used—a process known as neuroplasticity. This ability doesn’t disappear in adulthood. It continues throughout life, meaning habits can be learned, strengthened, and changed. There’s an old saying in neuroscience: neurons that fire together wire together. This means the more you run a neuro-circuit in your brain, the stronger that circuit becomes. This is why practice makes perfect. The more you practice piano, speaking a language, or juggling, the stronger those circuits get.
Synaptic pruning
As it turns out, the ability to learn is about more than building and strengthening neural connections. Even more important is our ability to break down the old ones. It’s called “synaptic pruning.” As explained by Pollack and Cabane, here’s how it works:
Your brain is like a garden; instead of growing flowers, fruits, and vegetables, you grow synaptic connections between neurons. These are the connections that neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and others travel across.
“Glial cells” are the gardeners of your brain—they act to speed up signals between certain neurons. But other glial cells are the waste removers, pulling weeds, killing pests, and raking up dead leaves. Your brain’s pruning gardeners are called “microglial cells.” They prune your synaptic connections. The question is, how do they know which ones to prune?
Researchers are just starting to unravel this mystery, but what they do know is that the synaptic connections that are used less are marked by a protein, C1q (as well as others). When the microglial cells detect that mark, they bond to the protein and destroy—or prune—the synapse.
This is how your brain makes the physical space for you to build new and stronger connections so you can learn more.
Sleep is important because that’s when the most “synaptic pruning” occurs, solidifying new connections and erasing old ones. It also talks about what you dwell on the most, which will become where your brain’s energy is spent making new connections.
Porn and pruning
Now let’s talk about how all this relates to porn. When we look at porn, connections are formed that connect viewing these sexually explicit images with pleasure. As we look at porn more frequently, those connections get stronger and stronger while our old connections are slowly erased to make room.
Over time, the brain gets used to those connections being there, and it takes more and more porn to keep them strong. Soon, it seems porn is dominating our thoughts for most of the day: When can I watch it again? What am I going to watch next? This makes it so that when we try to stop watching porn, we can start to feel empty, anxious, and stressed. Repeated experiences help shape the brain through a process known as neuroplasticity, strengthening neural pathways that are used frequently while allowing less-used pathways to weaken over time.Mateos-Aparicio, P., & Rodríguez-Moreno, A. (2019). The impact of studying brain plasticity. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 13, Article 66. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2019.00066Copy For some people, pornography can become a habitual way of coping with stress, loneliness, boredom, or other difficult emotions. When that coping strategy is removed, those emotions may temporarily feel more noticeable—not because the brain permanently “needs” pornography, but because it has learned to rely on it in certain situations.Bőthe, B., Koós, M., Nagy, L., Kraus, S. W., Potenza, M. N., & Demetrovics, Z. (2024). Problematic pornography use, emotion regulation, and treatment considerations: A narrative review. Current Addiction Reports, 11, 394–407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-024-00548-0Copy The encouraging news is that neuroplasticity works both ways. As healthier habits are repeated, the brain can continue adapting by strengthening new pathways over time.
A 2025 functional near-infrared spectroscopy study examined brain activity while participants viewed pornographic material. The researchers found that frequent pornography users showed different patterns of functional connectivity in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in executive function, decision-making, and self-regulation. Frequent users also showed stronger sexual arousal responses and performed worse on a cognitive control task after exposure compared with lower-frequency users.Shu, Q., Tang, S., Wu, Z., Feng, J., Lv, W., Huang, M., & Xu, F. (2025). The impact of internet pornography addiction on brain function: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 19, Article 1477914. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1477914Copy
But luckily for us, this process works both ways.
Just like viewing pornography creates these connections in our brains, staying away from it will weaken them until they fade away. A porn habit can be tough to break since years of watching highly arousing images can leave quite a mark on our brains, but we can take back control over time. Remember, your brain is customizable: you decide how it changes by focusing on what you put in it.
Quitting porn is easier said than done, but if you do it, the urge for porn will surely begin to fade away. It’s just brain science. As we build positive focuses in our lives and gain more and more distance from porn, the pathways in our brain that tell us we need to power up that laptop will start to shrink. It will be slow, but it will happen. With time, the brain will eliminate the old connections associated with porn to make room for new connections. The damage that porn did will dissolve over time.
There is hope
For some people, quitting pornography may feel uncomfortable at first. That doesn’t mean recovery isn’t working. It may mean the brain is adjusting.
When a behavior has been repeatedly paired with pleasure, escape, stress relief, or emotional numbing, the brain can start expecting that behavior in response to certain feelings or situations. Removing the behavior can expose the underlying stress, loneliness, boredom, anxiety, or pain that pornography may have been masking.
That’s why recovery is about more than simply avoiding porn. It’s about building a life where healthier habits become easier to choose.
Helpful steps may include:
- Identifying triggers
- Reducing access to sexual content
- Building accountability
- Strengthening healthy relationships
- Exercising regularly
- Practicing stress-management skills
- Seeking therapy or recovery support when needed
A 2023 systematic review found that treatment approaches for problematic pornography use are still developing, but existing interventions often include cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, mindfulness-based approaches, and other strategies that help people understand triggers, regulate emotions, and change compulsive behavior patterns.Roza, T. H., Gattaz, W. F., Garcia, F. D., & Tavares, H. (2024). Treatment approaches for problematic pornography use: A systematic review. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 53, 1231–1247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02699-zCopy
Long story short, it is possible to delete porn’s harmful effects on your brain. Whatever connections you’ve built with your favorite porn site, it can be reversed over time. You can form connections, make new habits, and work toward a healthier brain.
Rest assured, our brains are fully customizable, and we decide how they change.
Start recovering with a virtual support system
Recovering from porn can feel isolating, but it doesn't have to. Relay makes it easy to find a virtual support system so you can make progress alongside peers who get it.
Relay is the #1 group-based program for overcoming pornography use, expertly designed to find you a strong support system so you can stay connected and accountable. Joining any support group is usually a big leap, but with Relay, getting started is a lot less complicated and intimidating. Their matching technology intelligently pairs you with 4-8 other similar individuals based on just a few factors so you can start healing with help from a tight-knit virtual group.
Get connected with a supportive group, find accountability without the shame, and get immediate responses in those moments of need.
Fight the New Drug may receive financial support from purchases made using affiliate links.
Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
This is why Fight the New Drug exists—but we can’t do it without you.
Your donation directly fuels the creation of new educational resources, including our awareness-raising videos, podcasts, research-driven articles, engaging school presentations, and digital tools that reach youth where they are: online and in school. It equips individuals, parents, educators, and youth with trustworthy resources to start the conversation.
Will you join us? We’re grateful for whatever you can give—but a recurring donation makes the biggest difference. Every dollar directly supports our vital work, and every individual we reach decreases sexual exploitation. Let’s fight for real love: