The Consequences of Porn Consumption
While porn parades itself as an escape from reality, the reality is for both male and female porn consumers that the benefits of escaping are short-lived and followed by significant consequences such as mental health issues.
- Studies show that porn consumption correlates with depression, anxiety, stress, relationship problems, and insecurity.
- Even moderate porn consumption is shown to result in shrunken grey matter in parts of the brain that oversee cognitive function.
- Porn consumption can leave consumers unsatisfied with sex in real life, as they’ve come to expect fantastical encounters like what they’ve seen onscreen.
Men, after exposure to pornography, report being less satisfied with their partners’ physical appearance and sexual performance. They also report having an increased desire for sex without emotional commitment.
Not to mention, there’s overarching, societal effects of widespread porn addiction and consumption of pornography that exist on a global scale, including:
- Increased negative attitude toward women
- Decreased empathy toward victims of sexual violence
- Increase in sexually imposing behavior
- Increased levels of behavioral aggression, violent sexual fantasies, and assault
These effects can all be linked to porn consumption, regardless of whether the porn itself is violent or nonviolent.
Moreover, globally, porn consumption has been attributed with significantly fueling the sex trafficking industry.
The campaign
Recognizing the serious mental health risks posed by frequent porn consumption, as well as porn’s dangerous societal influence, Halcyon launched a campaign to raise awareness about the negative realities brought on by porn consumption and provide a number of accessible online resources for people to get help, whether for themselves or someone else.
The goal: to get people to reconsider their own habits when it comes to porn and quit. Simply put, “Quit Porn, Be Happy.”
To achieve this goal, we created a mini site to present the most scientifically compelling reasons to quit porn. In order words, we gave them the facts.
We then provided three paths to resources for users to seek help or join the movement:
- I need help.
- Someone I know needs help.
- I want to spread the word.
The results
The campaign was an encouraging success.
49.97% of users who reviewed our facts about porn addiction ended up visiting the “I need help” resources to help them kick their porn addictions.
In other words, almost 50% of users who accessed the site sought help with their addictions.
The best part, the cost of getting someone to our landing page was only $0.32. The cost of getting someone to click one of our help resources was only $0.64. Yup, that’s what it costs to potentially provide someone a path to free themselves from porn addiction.
If you ask us, that’s a worthwhile investment indeed.
If you would like to support this effort, consider a donation and we’ll put those funds to work!
Also, if you’d like to learn more about porn addiction or get your hands on resources to help people quit, we recommend checking out: https://fightthenewdrug.org/
