You may have seen more naked people in your life than all your ancestors combined. This is, of course, due to free pornography. However, this is not always good. Researchers from Belgium, Denmark and the United Kingdom have conducted a series of online surveys to find out how pornography affects men and whether it harms men in general. The study involved 3,267 men who answered 118 questions related to their pornography habits and sex life trends.
Respondents were asked to find out how often they masturbate, how often they watch pornography a week, and how often they have an active sex life with a partner (or partners).
The researchers focused on men who had sex with another person at least once in the last four weeks before completing the questionnaire.
The study found that men surveyed spend an average of 70 minutes a week on pornography sites. One session usually lasts 5-15 minutes. Needless to say, this is just the average, and some men enjoy pornography much more often than others.
23% of men under the age of 35 already had complaints of erectile dysfunction. This surprised researchers: previous studies have shown that such disorders should be less common in this age group. Researchers have found that erectile dysfunction is most commonly complained of by young men who consume significantly more pornographic content.
In addition, pornography distorts the perception of normal sex. 90% of men admitted that they always skip videos that they find boring.
65% of respondents think that having sex with a real partner is more fun, which is good, but on the other hand, 35% of men think that pornography is better than real human interaction. Finally, 20% of men found that they watch more and more extreme porn because they get used to the usual and it is no longer so exciting.
Connecting with real sex partners is a value that becomes more and more forgotten over time. Researchers say pornography on the internet burst like a giant bubble after 2007. And now that COVID-19 has turned everyone on at home, watching porn has become more popular than ever.