In light of Playboy announcing its transition to non-nude imagery, I feel like we should talk about porn use leading to brain damage. Stick with me for a second. There is logic behind this, and I’m not the one with brain damage.
I’m also not writing this to argue the evils of porn (composed of high STI rates and sexual abuse on-set, among other injustices inflicted upon porn actors), but rather about how it damages its users. No joke. This is a practical argument for thinking twice about porn use.
Given that 40 million people in America regularly watch porn, with two thirds being men, we should be aware of the effects it has on us.
Let’s start with understanding addiction as a concept. Drug use overtime leads to higher tolerance of the substance, requiring more to get ‘high’ or even to function normally. Specifically, drugs overload the brain with the pleasure chemical dopamine, and the brain adapts by mitigating the ability to enjoy dopamine.
As tolerance develops, control over drug use degrades and the brain’s neural pathways overwrite previous pleasure pathways. The brain starts changing, addiction forms, and other formerly pleasurable activities become benign.
Changes in the brain occur because of neuroplasticity, the brain’s way of adapting. This adaptation can be taken too far, which can lead to great damage to the brain. For some, healing may take years.
JAMA Psychiatry found that increased porn viewing correlated with less gray matter in the striatum, and a worse connection between this are and the prefontal cortex.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But Jean-luc, porn is not a drug.” And while this may be true, porn does have the dopamine-flooding effect of a drug. It’s not a drug, but it can most definitely become an addiction.
If you’re not convinced, then I encourage you to look up scans of a porn-addicted brain compared to a drug-addicted one; you’ll sadly see the same type of brain patterns. And we haven’t even talked about the real-life consequences.
The website High Existence states that as you look at increasing amounts of porn, you rewire your brain to find pleasure in an image on-screen, and not with a living human. Real-life attractive people can lose their luster, or become valued just for their image. The pleasure of real sex and beauty can diminish.
Studies suggest that the increased rate of erectile dysfunction amongst men under 40 is in part because of porn. Guys, if you need to pop pills to sleep with the attractive person next door, you might want to double check your porn intake.
Don’t think it’s a problem for you personally? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but one other statistic should caution those thinking about marriage at some point in life: Psychology Today reports that porn use is cited in 56 per cent of divorce cases. Just some food for thought.
Pulling these facts together, as more of us obtain access to the Internet with time, it seems like we may be heading toward a society rife with greater divorce rates and poorer sex. If guys can’t get aroused or if real-life people aren’t as attractive, overall sexual satisfaction will diminish. I know of one man who can’t sleep with his wife without a porn mag on the pillow. Do we want more instances like this?
Bottom line is that porn isn’t as safe as many think it is. It might be fun, it might be enthralling, but is it safe? I’m doubtful.
I’m only asking you to think twice about porn. Isn’t that worth avoiding a shrinking brain?
