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Research

What the research shows

These numbers are not meant as a wagging finger. They are here because understanding what I was up against helped me — it was not just me being weak. Every source is linked so you can read it yourself.

Age 13

is the average age when children first see porn. One in ten has seen it before turning nine.

Source: Children’s Commissioner (2023)
73 %

of American teenagers aged 13 to 17 have seen porn online. More than half saw it before turning 13.

Source: Common Sense Media (2023)
15 %

of teenagers first saw porn at age 10 or younger.

Source: Common Sense Media (2023)
79 %

of young people have encountered violent porn — choking, hitting or degradation — before turning 18.

Source: Children’s Commissioner (2023)
88 %

of scenes in the most-watched porn films contain physical aggression, almost always directed at women.

Source: Bridges et al. (2010)
50.000+

people across 50 studies: the more consumption, the lower the satisfaction in the relationship.

Source: Wright et al. (2017)

Research

What happens in the brain?

What convinced me was not moral arguments but the brain research: that what I called weak willpower looked like a reward system under pressure.

The reward system shrinks with use

Brain scans of 64 men showed that more hours of porn per week correlated with less grey matter in the striatum — a core of the brain’s reward system — along with a weaker response to reward and weaker connectivity to the prefrontal cortex, which governs impulse control. The study measures a correlation, not a proven cause, but the researchers point out that intense stimulation of the reward system may wear on exactly those circuits.

Source: Kühn & Gallinat (2014), JAMA Psychiatry

The brain responds as it does in addiction

Cambridge researchers scanned people with compulsive porn use and found their brains responding to porn cues in the same regions — and in the same way — as the brains of drug users respond to their drug. Craving (“wanting”) grew without enjoyment (“liking”) keeping up: a hallmark of addiction.

Source: Voon et al. (2014), PLOS ONE

Read the numbers with open eyes

Research in this field often measures correlations, not proven causes. That consumption and distress go together does not always tell you which came first. I have only included numbers from peer-reviewed studies and official reports, and I link straight to them so you can judge for yourself.