Cyber-Sexual or Internet Sex Addiction
Internet sex or porn addiction refers to an emotional dependence on pornography that interferes with daily life, relationships, and the ability to function. Access, affordability, and anonymity, along with increased social acceptance, have made internet pornography addiction a new clinical phenomenon
Symptoms of internet sex addiction
Trouble controlling time spent on pornography.
Overindulging in gratifying sexual behaviors, such as masturbation.
Increased sexual performance anxiety.
A decrease in actual sex due to a lack of interest.
Erectile dysfunction and decreased libido
Hyper-criticism regarding your or your partner's body.
Trouble falling asleep.
Feelings of dissatisfaction.
Impact on Youth
Inaccurate view of sexuality such as sex is glamorous, enjoyable, and risk-free.
Distorted perception of healthy sexual relationships and performance.
Perceiving women as a tool for male satisfaction due to the porn reflecting the desires of predominantly male audience.
Viewing internet sex content, including extreme porn, as a norm and a "role model" for sexual relationships.
Projecting this perception and anticipation into real-life relationships, e.g. women like rough sex, men have prolonged erection, etc., which may result in physically and/or mentally hurting others or self.
Altered view of what is normal and/or attractive in male and female bodies and sizes. May result in relationship and social anxiety and avoidance behavior.
Early sexualizing and premature engagement in sex. Perceiving casual sexual encounters as the norms. May result in trauma, problems in future relationships. promiscuous and dangerous sexual behavior later in life.
Problems with focus, concentration, memory, and school performance.
Impact on Adults
It changes the way a real partner is perceived: their body and sex performance is often being compared with online sex performers.
Decreased satisfaction with real life sex.
Decreased desire to have sex with a real life partner.
Risky behaviors such as watching porn at work.
Problems in the relationships.
Irritability, anger, decreased life satisfaction.
Problems with focus, concentration, and memory.
Financial problems.
Facts
A Canadian study done with 470 adolescents reported that 98% of them had been exposed to pornography; the average age of first exposure was around 12 years, and one-third were exposed as young as by the age of 10 [1].
One in five youth experience unwanted online exposure to sexually explicit material and one in nine youth experience online sexual solicitation.
15% to 30% of youth have sexted, with the prevalence increasing with age [2,3].
1. Hare, K. A., Gahagan, J., Jackson, L., & Steenbeek, A. (2014). Perspectives on “Pornography”: Exploring sexually explicit Internet movies’ influences on Canadian young adults’ holistic sexual health. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 23(3), 148–158. doi: 10.3138/cjhs.2732 2. Skau, B. (2007). Who Has Seen What, When? Pornography’s Contribution to the Social Construction of Sexuality During Childhood and Adolescence. (Doctoral Dissertation, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada). Available from Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). (1044). Retrieved from https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/1044 3. Madigan, S., Villani, V., Azzopardi, C., Laut, D., Smith, T., Temple, J. R., Browne, D., & Dimitropoulos, G. (2018a). The Prevalence of Unwanted Online Sexual Exposure