People who are involved with pornography may be basking in the sunshine of instant pleasure, but like storm clouds, problems are brewing just over the horizon. In the words of people who have struggled to move beyond the porn trap, the nine most common serious negative consequences of using porn are:
1. “I’m easily irritated and depressed.”
2. “I’ve become isolated from other people.”
3. “I’m sexually objectifying people.”
4. “I’m neglecting important areas of my life.”
5. “I’m having problems with sex.”
6. “I’m making my partner unhappy.”
7. “I’m feeling bad about myself.”
8. “I’m engaging in risky and dangerous behavior.”
9. “I’ve become addicted to porn.”
Any one of these nine consequences can indicate a significant problem with porn, but the more consequences you experience, the more deeply entrenched and challenging your porn problems are likely to be. As you can see from the list above, the consequences of porn occur on both personal and interpersonal levels. Porn can affect how we think and feel inside as well as how we interact and behave with others. And we can encounter serious problems with porn without being “addicted” to it.
Let’s look closer at each of these consequences.