Addiction to Internet
pornography is a growing problem in the
United States, because
of the easy accessibility
to the Internet and the
considerable amount of
websites available. Each year the porn industry
grows by millions of
dollars. The definition of
addiction is the state
of being enslaved to a
habit or practice or to
something that is
psychologically or physically habit forming.
(Random House, Inc.
2006) When it comes to
internet addiction,
addiction is the urge or
pull to seek distraction which becomes stronger
over time. Sexual
addicts have the desire
and need to keep
coming back for
pornographic images often ignoring loved
ones and family to view
these images. Internet pornography has been called the,
"gateway drug to
sexual addiction," by Dr.
Victor Cline, a
psychologist at the
University of Utah. Dr. Cline states there are
four stages of
addiction: addiction,
escalation,
desensitization and
acting out. This is the progression of the
addiction. According to
Dr. Keith Abrams,
addiction is downloading
pornography, or looking
at pornography in the work setting, or
spending three to four
hours a night looking at
it and neglecting
relationships. Pornography addiction
can become unhealthy if
guilt or shame is
associated with it, or if
the behavior puts the
user or others at risk. Some may say that
pornography is not an
addiction but compulsive
behavior. One person
that says this is
Louanne Cole Weston, Ph.D. The rate that
pornography increases
on the Internet is
amazing. Internet
pornography statistics
become outdated very quickly, especially in the
Internet environment
where numbers change
daily. Porn revenue is
larger than all combined
revenues of all football, baseball, and basketball
franchises. Every 39
seconds a new
pornographic video is
being made. There are
1.5 billion pornographic Internet downloads a
month. Between the
years 2005 and 2006
the pornography
business increased by
an almost a billion dollars. There is big
business in pornography
and many people who
rally against
pornography perceive
that the actors and actress that create
these images are
preying on the
emotional affected. People may say that
this addiction does not
affect me, but then
who does it affect? Is
sex getting in the way
of your life, your work, or your relationships?
Are you having sex at
inappropriate times or
places, or with
inappropriate people?
(G. Collins, 2003) Addiction to Internet
pornography affects all genders, all income
brackets, and all sexual
orientations, from
straight men and
women to homosexual
men and women. Internet addiction does
not care what race the
addicts are either.
Viewing pornography on
the Internet can happen
at home or at work. Many people who are
addicted to Internet
pornography have had
dysfunctional families
and have suffered from
emotional, physical and/ or sexual trauma. (G.
Collins, 2003)