Addiction takes a variety of different forms. It could be a man drinking alcohol every day to forget his sorrows. Or a girl constantly using her cell phone to avoid talking to her real family and friends. Maybe it’s a boyfriend using pornography to escape from his real-life relationship problems. It’s easy to admit that addiction is bad. However, getting rid of your addiction is another matter entirely.
With the right mindset and determination, any habit can be kicked. I struggled with substance abuse issues for many years until I decided to change my ways and enter a recovery program. I’m proud to say I’ve been sober for nine years and have completely changed my life.
There is one particularly interesting addiction that has sprung up in recent years. The development of the internet and technology has changed how content is accessed and consumed. Pornography is plentiful and readily available to anyone with an internet connection. Everyone has the ability to log onto the internet and instantly satisfy themselves.
Instead of having to attract a mate through chemistry, physical attraction, and dating, people can just log onto the internet and find whatever sexual gratification they are looking for in a matter of seconds. It has changed sex and dating forever. There are even men out there who are opting for sex dolls.
There are plenty of people that have a healthy sex drive and use pornography to satisfy their urges every now and then. For me, this is totally normal and far from harmful. Unfortunately, there are other people who completely consumed by pornography and spend their every waking hour thinking about it. This can lead to people treating the opposite sex with disrespect, deep depression, broken relationships, and extreme loneliness.
In this article, I will discuss 5 tell-tale signs that you are addicted to porn. Hopefully, they will help you realize you have a problem and maybe even save your relationship!
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Your Expectations Are Overblown
There is a classic premise that is frequently featured in porn movies. It tends to start with an everyday scene or situation, like a handyman coming to fix some broken pipes in a house. The housewife is alone and waiting for the repairman. You might notice that her blouse is a little bit too tight, but nothing that would raise a red flag. Everything seems completely normal until a cheesy line is dropped, perfect bodies are suddenly on full display, and sexual intercourse begins without reservations.
Pornography plays directly to your fantasies. It’s meant to cater to people’s darkest desires and present people with perfection. They want to create a fantasy world where anything goes. We all know that perfection is unattainable, which is a huge problem with pornography addiction. Porn addiction will change the way you think about sex and the opposite sex. It will create unrealistic expectations that will not be met by real life partners. If you find yourself getting angry or upset that your sexual expectations are not being met in real life after watching a lot of porn, you might be addicted.
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You Are Becoming Antisocial
Porn addiction can transform even the most outgoing and charismatic guy you have ever met into a pathetic and empty husk of a man. If you find yourself declining invitations to things that you really enjoy doing just to watch porn, you might have a serious problem. If you are coming up with excuses to avoid your life obligations to get home as quickly as possible and watch porn, you could be addicted. The appeal of going out and talking with the opposite sex starts to lose its allure with the instant gratification that porn delivers. Be cognizant of this risk or you could be heading down a path of darkness.
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Your Dirty Little Secret
Addicts typically will go to great lengths to hide their addiction from the world. Porn addiction is no different. A porn addict will do whatever it takes to keep their secret hidden. Lying, clearing internet history daily, and locking up porn collections like Fort Knox are all fair game. Porn addicts usually feel guilty and ashamed about their habit. If you are genuinely afraid of being judged by the world for your porn habits, you might be deep in the throes of porn addiction.
The problem with hiding your porn habit is that it makes you crave porn even more. You will feel lonely and only be satisfied when you are watching porn. Constantly chasing that rush could lead to you seeking out even weirder and darker pornography. It’s a vicious cycle that can be avoided by kicking the habit altogether.
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You Lose Track of Time
Maybe it starts with only 10-30 minutes of porn consumption a few times a week. You enjoy your time watching porn, but it’s a small fragment of your daily life. You could quit at any time.
Then things start getting worse, you find yourself scrolling through porn websites for an hour or two every day. You might not even realize you are spending a few hours watching porn every day.
Things continue to spiral out of control, and before you know it, you are watching porn for 5-10 hours every day and missing out on all of the great things that life has to offer. Your credit card bill is thousands of dollars every month due to all of the porn subscriptions. A graveyard of crumbled tissues litters your room. Your wrist is constantly aching and your forearm muscle looks like Popeye’s. If this sounds like a path you are currently on, it’s very likely that you are also addicted to porn.
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It’s Messing Up Your Sex-Life
People that struggle with addiction always want more of whatever they are addicted to. It’s a feeling that consumes every thought and emotion of the addict. With pornography addiction, your brain and body become desensitized to what would normally arouse you. It’s truly sad when a beautiful guy or girl simply isn’t enough to strike your fancy anymore.
Porn addicts will typically have masturbation on their mind at all times of the day. If they are in a relationship, the porn addict will start to neglect their significant other emotionally, physically, and sexually. They will begin to expect the things that they see in porn to happen in real life, which is far from reality. If you have noticed your sex-life has taken a turn for the worse, you might be suffering from pornography addiction.
Addiction is something that affects so many different people that it must be taken seriously. It’s not a moral weakness or personal failure, but rather an illness.