Porn is the drug of choice during a global pandemic
By: Paloma Chavez
Human connection, social interaction and intimacy have all been victims of the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures put in place to fight the virus. Seeking solace, Americans have turned to alcohol, cannabis and even baking. Many though, especially young adults have looked to the internet for some sort of replacement for what the pandemic has robbed them of. For recent University of Southern California graduate, Alexander Block, that was pornography.
“It goes without saying that most people my age watch porn,” said Block. “It’s not something I used to hide but I’ve been watching it a lot more than usual so there’s newfound shame that’s been placed.” Block blames his unmanageable sleep schedule and excessive time on his computer to pornography sites.
“I’m not addicted to porn because it hasn’t gotten in the way of my work or family time but it something that I could see being highly addictive. We’re all just so bored. We’re all trapped in our homes and porn is a way to release dopamine in a time where none of us are really experiencing it,” said Block. “I think in a certain amount of time, anyone can get addicted even if they aren’t right now.”
And this kind of addiction can actually be hard to spot. Markus Diaz, a recovering porn addict who recently moved to Los Angeles said, “Someone who’s addicted to alcohol will miss their AA meeting the next morning. Someone who’s addicted to drugs and relapses won’t be coherent enough to attend their NA meeting. When it comes to porn addicts anonymous it’s very easy to relapse and show up on time to the meeting.”
Diaz has not relapsed and said, while he hasn’t watched pornography in over two years, he struggles daily. “Of course, the relapse chances are high. It’s like if a heroin addict gets clean but walks around every day with a needle and the drug in their pocket,” said Diaz. “There’s a constant urge because I always have my phone with me and without my phone I’m shut out from a lot of the good in my life.”
With the turn to the internet and the pressures of the pandemic, new addictions and relapses became even more possible. Treatment centers and sexologists say they have seen a corresponding rise in people seeking help for addiction to pornography and the shame that can accompany it.
“It’s such a taboo topic and this country was really founded on this puritanical framework that anything outside of what we say the norm is, you’re bad, you’re wrong, you’re perverted,” said Los Angeles based sex therapist Greg Woodhill.
Experts say there are two types of porn addicts and Woodhill differentiates between them by saying, “Some addicts use pornography as a way to escape reality, usually rooted from early developmental trauma. While others stumble upon porn and just can’t seem to shy away from it even though they haven’t experienced trauma.”
Those vulnerabilities and the drive toward escapism have been magnified by the unfortunate reality of life during the pandemic. Most jobs turned strictly remote, schools were closed, and beloved pastimes became mere memories from when life was “normal.” For individuals with a tendency toward feeling isolated could easily find themselves wanting to escape the reality of this pandemic more than ever.
“Even if they don’t have a type of trauma, they’re trying to escape real life. There’s a huge group of people. I mean, I think almost all of us have been affected negatively by the pandemic,” said Woodhill. “So now somebody who hasn’t gone through early, complex trauma, is experiencing a pandemic and, there’s all these new reasons why you’d want to escape reality. People are picking up what they use to numb and soothe and excite themselves. It’s showing up in any kind of digital addiction, including and especially pornography.”
Pornhub is the world’s leading free porn site which receives 2.8 billion visits on average each month. Leading streaming sites like Netflix receive 2.2 billion visits monthly. At the start of the pandemic, in March 2020, Pornhub offered their users a free premium membership if they vowed to stay home, quarantine and wash their hands frequently. During this offer they changed their name to “Stayhomehub.”
That paid off for the company. According to Pornhub Insights, the site’s statistic and data trends tracker, in 2019 there were an average of 42 billion visits, which means an average of 115 million visits per day. At the start of the pandemic there was an overall 24.4% increase in global traffic at Pornhub. Europe saw an 18% increase while users in the USA drove a 41.5% spike in traffic. So far there have been over 17 million coronavirus themed searches on Pornhub during the pandemic.
“It’s no mistake that that Pornhub was offering free premium memberships, and Netflix wasn’t, said Woodhill. They’re basically saying, we know you’re using it, we know you need it and if you aren’t addicted now by the time the virus is gone you will be. So, you’ll eventually pay for the membership.”
Pornhub did not respond to several requests for comment on this story, but Corey Price, Pornhub’s vice president told news publication, “ManOfMany” the free Premium offer is the website’s way of encouraging people to follow proper social distancing and lockdown measures, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. “With nearly one billion people in lockdown across the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important that we lend a hand and provide them with an enjoyable way to pass the time. We hope by expanding our offer of free Pornhub Premium worldwide, people have an extra incentive to stay home and flatten the curve,” he said.
While pornographic page views went up, misconceptions about this type of addiction, especially among college students, could also have helped fuel the rise in people seeking treatment.
Chadam Pires, a recent USC graduate, said “I haven’t seen a change in my porn viewership but I’m in a relationship. Movies do an interesting job of depicting these addicts. From what my friends and I think, someone who’s addicted to porn doesn’t have a very active sex life,” said Pires
“I usually picture an older white man who’s just masturbating and climaxing hundreds of times a day,” said USC senior Gaby Jacobson.
Clint Newell, a Los Angeles sexologist who also specializes in pornography addiction said neither of those images are correct. “These addicts aren’t looking to climax. Once you climax it’s over. They want to edge and be in the sweet spot for 6 or 7 hours before they even think about ejaculating – Usually with 80 or so different tabs open clicking back and forth between videos,” said Newell.
Woodhill agreed that the image doesn’t match reality and said, “I think there’s a big misconception that these addicts don’t have sex. They do, most of the reason they even attend therapy is because their spouse catches the behavior. However, eventually having sex with your partner won’t release the same amount of dopamine as porn will.”
Sexologist Clint Newell’s 6 month program to help overcome porn addiction.
Gerald Drose, clinical psychologist and couples and sex therapist talks about the signs of porn addiction.
50 million users.
Sexologist Greg Woodhill discusses how realistic the film, Don Jon, is to the life of a porn addict.
Don Jon
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson, Don Jon is a film depicting porn addiction and the effects it may have on real life relationships.
Los Angeles based sexologist, Greg Woodhill, answers questions pertaining to porn addiction
- What kind of people seek help from you?
- Are there any misconceptions about those addicted to porn?
- Why do you think Pornhub offered a free premium membership for those who vowed to stay home and wash their hands?
- What advice would you give parents in terms of handling porn and their child?
Some therapists say the COVID-19 pandemic has also changed the way they approach this addiction. “It’s changed the way I treat this addiction for sure, Newell said. “Along with the copious amount of cognitive therapy, the first thing we do is strip them of all their devices – anything that gets internet. Now if we do that, they can’t even attend their meetings or therapy sessions, so we’ve opted in for adding blockers to certain sites. You just can’t block every girl in a bikini or every sexual photo,” added Newell.
“I think in big strokes my treatment plan hasn’t changed but in small strokes it has, probably for the better though,” said Woodhill. “It takes more discipline since I can’t take their internet away, but it avoids the risk of made up excuses as to why they missed session. They can’t say their car’s in the shop or that they have a cold anymore so they couldn’t come to therapy”.
Diaz attributes a lot of his deep rooted reasonings as to why he got addicted to porn in the first place is how taboo of a topic it is. “Porn isn’t something parents talk about with their kids. You tell your kids don’t do heroin. You tell your kids drink in moderation. You tell your kids sex is okay but don’t get pregnant in high school. Yet no one’s talking about the immense dopamine porn releases and how addicting that can be. Now throw a pandemic into the world of an 18-year-old. It’s a breeding ground for all kinds of addiction. Since kids are already always on their phone pornography doesn’t seem as scary as a needle and heroin does,” said Diaz
Diaz said that he isn’t part of the group of recovering addicts who withstood early complex trauma, but the lack of open communication can be a large factor as to why children are viewing porn at a higher rate and a younger age during the pandemic.
Woodhill attributes high levels of porn addiction to the lack of conversation surrounding porn and the lack of parent/child shift during the pandemic. Children are in their rooms more due to remote learning, but parents aren’t trying to get to know them. “Man, oh, man, parents need to talk to their children about porn. And they need to be taught how to talk to their children about porn,” Woodhill said, “because now that is sex education. And that’s sad.” Experts agree that using porn as a form of sex education can lead to unhealthy partner dynamics and unrealistic expectations of sex.
Although this pandemic has its own set of long-term effects on the brain, experts say excessive pornography use can also result in side effects that shouldn’t be seen in adult males until their 70’s.
Los Angeles sexologist Newell said, “From what my colleagues and I have seen and treated these addictions are burying themselves within adults 18-24 and older adults between the ages of 65-70. We’re seeing young men with erectile dysfunction at 18.” Newell attributes the overstimulation during a child’s sexual developmental period to be guilty for creating erectile dysfunction and that it is very common.
Woodhill describes porn as part of a healthy growing mind when watched in moderation. “If I could tell every parent one or two sentences I would say, normalize the curiosity, normalize their desire to look, any budding mind is curious and that’s totally normal. It’s totally appropriate. Here, unfortunately, is what happens with this specific brand of looking, here’s where it can take you and here are the abuses that will happen to your own brain if this is your sex education,” said Woodhill.