How much porn is too much porn?

There’s no set amount of porn that counts as too much. Everyone’s relationship with porn is different and it impacts everyone differently.

Feeling like you are watching too much porn is more about feeling like it’s having a negative effect on you, or feeling like you can’t control how much you watch.

Some signs you’re watching too much porn

If you feel like porn's becoming a problem and interfering in your life by making you feel bad, or it's impacting your personal relationships or your relationship with your body, then you could consider taking a break. If you don’t feel like that’s something you can do alone then it could be useful to talk to someone.

• I feel weirded out by some of what I am watching
• Watching porn is making me feel bad about my body
• I’m watching porn instead of doing the other things I want or need to do
• I can’t enjoy masturbation or sex with someone else without watching or thinking about porn

Is porn addictive?

<aside> 📗 Addiction is continued use of porn despite negative consequences.

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Ultimately it comes down to if you feel in control of your porn use.

Compared to other media, porn is focused on getting consumers and viewers to let go of impulse control (so they can orgasm). This especially intense neurochemical 'reward' (orgasm) is followed by a 'crash', which can lead to even more addictive cycles, seeking increasing levels of stimulation. So next time you may need to watch more or more intense porn, in order to feel the same excitement.

So if you feel like your porn use is getting out of control you could consider taking a break and seeing if you feel better for it, talking to someone, or getting help.

What should I do if I don’t like my relationship with porn?

Take a step back

Understanding why you are watching porn can help you figure out how to change your habits. Habits generally work like this: you have a trigger (for example, if you’re bored, lonely, or horny), you engage in a behaviour (for eample, watching porn and masturbating), you get a reward (for example, getting pleasure in the moment, distraction, entertainment).

Knowing your triggers can help you swap out the behaviour of watching porn for something else. For example, if you’re watching porn because you’re lonely, you might want to consider taking up new hobbies or going on more social activities, or if you’re watching porn because you’re horny, you might consider masturbating without porn.

Over time, you can train your brain to associate different responses (like listening to music or getting active) to different triggers (feeling lonely or bored), which could help you reduce your porn use.