There’s nothing wrong with watching a bit of porn now and then, but it’s also possible to go overboard and become addicted to watching these videos which often display unrealistic, reductive, or even downright harmful scenarios. And according to a new study, porn might actually be eroding your brain.
- Neuroscientists are convinced of porn’s harmful effects. The group of scientists from Canada’s Université Laval discovered that porn has the power to erode the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that plays the biggest part in personality development and is also in charge of other complex actions like planning.
- It turns back time, but not in a good way. Erosion of the prefrontal cortex actually turns your brain back to a more juvenile state, which may sound like a good thing but actually isn’t. It means that all the development your brain has undergone is undone and you lose all the maturation you’ve gained over the years.
- Lack of impulse control is just one of the side effects. Neuroscience Ph.D. student and researcher Rachel Anne Barr believes that those who consume porn regularly could experience a lack of impulse control as well as difficulty in dealing with their feelings, both of which could lead to poor decision-making and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.
- You might be getting off, but at what cost? “It’s somewhat paradoxical that adult entertainment may revert our brain wiring to a more juvenile state,” Barr wrote in an article for The Conversation. “The much greater irony is that while porn promises to satisfy and provide sexual gratification, it delivers the opposite.”
- There’s still a lot we don’t know. Barr added, “Science is only just beginning to reveal the neurological repercussions of porn consumption. It is already clear that the mental health and sex lives of its widespread audience are suffering catastrophic effects. From depression to erectile dysfunction, porn appears to be hijacking our neural wiring with dire consequences.”
- Isn’t this all a bit extreme? Sex is a normal, healthy, pleasurable experience and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying it. However, there’s no denying that sex as it’s portrayed in the majority of pornography is not at all as it is in real life (thank goodness, in most cases) and is having major effects on our mental and emotional well-being. Is it really worth it?
