By: Shane James O’Neill
4 min. read.
Is Porn the Problem?
It’s true that we all use porn to hide. Most of us know that. Porn is a way we all medicate our pain, our loneliness, our boredom, anxiety, and depression; we use porn to get to bed, we use it to start our days. We even use it to celebrate. In short, it’s a one stop shop for all of our human emotions.
So, most of the therapy and counseling about pornography looks at our deep wounds and triggers, believing once we address those other issues, then the porn issue will lose its luster and power. That is to say, porn is viewed as a symptom of other, deeper problems, not as a cause to the problems of depression, social anxiety, insomnia, apathy, etc.
BUT does pornography create some of the issues we face, or do we merely use it to hide from our issues? That’s an important question to ask.
Here are three significant studies that examines the results of people who view porn and those who don’t:
(Disclaimer: this study doesn’t evaluate merely those who are “addicted” to pornography. The studies examine the impact of generalized porn use.)
2016 Study
This study was performed by evaluating the pornographic abstinence of the NoFap community (a huge secular community devoted to porn abstinence). The results of abstaining from pornography were:
- Increases the ability to delay rewards,
- Allows people to be more willing to take risks,
- Renders people more altruistic, and
- Renders people more extroverted, more conscientious, and less neurotic.
In short, abstaining from porn makes us better human beings.
2015 Study
A 2015 study sought to understand pornography’s connection with the reward system of the brain and its connection to gratification.
The researchers divided the participants into two groups: one group abstained from their favorite food; the other group abstained from porn.
The group that abstained from porn came away with a much stronger ability to pursue goals that would take longer to achieve.
From these findings, the researchers stated that it is important to “treat pornography as a unique stimulus in reward, impulsivity, and addiction studies and to apply this accordingly in individual as well as relational studies.”
As the title of this study tells us, pornography robs us of our ability to pursue future reward for the sake of current pleasure.
That is to say, those who don’t view porn have a greater capacity and vision for imagining and pursuing goals and hopes.
2012 Study
A 2012 study examined the impact of porn upon relationships. Participants ceased viewing porn for three weeks, and by the end of three weeks the participants reported a qualitative increase in their commitment to relationships.
Porn inhibits healthy relational growth, and not simply with a significant other. It negatively shapes our sense of commitment with all immediate relationships.
Why is this Important?
So, why is this important?
It’s important because often times our hidden wounds remain unseen and, well, hidden.
So, we don’t know how to get them examined and treated. And, even if we do know how to address them, it’s a very lengthy process. (A process I do believe we should all pursue!) But if there is an aggregate in our lives, and by eliminating it we can start to experience a bigger and brighter world, then that seems well worth knowing! And porn is such an aggregate.
Data like this impacts our personal lives, for sure, just as much as it informs our parenting and our policy making.
Knowing that a specific well of water is poisoning us and our communities allows us to have credibility in sounding the alarm — especially when there are numerous other wells of enriching water that exist. Porn is such a well, poisoning our relationships, our bodies, our affection, motivation, compassion, and so much more.
If you can’t get at the wounds behind your sin then take some time to get just some distance from the sin.
(For more research, check out “Your Brain on Porn”)
TO FIGHT WITH US, CHECK OUT OUR NEW PROTECTOR INITIATIVE!
Sign up to continue receiving our weekly-blog series on celebrities who fight porn!
Shane James O’Neill is the Editorial Director for Proven Men Ministries. He is currently working on a graduate degree in apologetics at Liberty University’s Rawling School of Divinity.