Eliminate Chronic Internet Pornography Use to Reveal Its Effects*

There’s growing evidence that today’s streaming pornography videos are sui generis, with unique properties such as inexhaustible sexual novelty at a swipe, effortless escalation to more extreme material, and accessibility by youthful viewers, and that these unique properties are giving rise to severe symptoms in some consumers. Formal research on internet pornography (IP) has thus far failed to illuminate the phenomenon adequately. The usual correlation studies cannot establish which related factor causes another (or whether an effect is bi-directional). Yet establishing causation is critically important lest symptoms caused by IP overuse be confounded with evidence of psychological traits and indications of mental disorders. The most effective way to reveal the effects of IP is to ask study participants to give up IP use for an extended period and compare them with controls. A possible research design is described.

Citation: Wilson, G. (2016). Eliminate chronic Internet pornography use to reveal its effects. Addicta: The Turkish Journal on Addictions, 3, 209‒221. http://dx.doi.org/10.15805/addicta.2016.3.0107