Frightening ways that porn rewires the teenage brain

GARyWilSoNistheauthorofyourBrainonPorn:internetPornographyAndTheemergingScienceofAddiction.Hesays:

REWARD SYSTEM

DURING adolescence, the brain is constantly changing and shaping to its environment — especially its sexual environment.

The moment a teen looks at porn, several areas of the brain light up. The back of the brain will process the visual aspects, the sides of the brain will process the sounds. But it’s the reward system — the central part of which is called the ventral striatum — which tells your body to release the craving neurochemical dopamine.

This reward system evolved foremost to drive us towards those things we need in life, such as food, water and sex. They are necessary to our survival as a species.

DESENSITISED BY OVERUSE

BUT this part of the brain can become sensitised and desensitised to porn with overuse.

It’s confusing, but sensitisation blasts your reward centre in anticipation of porn use (causing cravings for porn), while desensitisation occurs while actually using porn — causing the user to seek more novel or extreme material to achieve the same high, or arousal state.

Another example would be an alcoTHIS holic, whose sensitisation causes cravings for alcohol (before taking a drink), but drinkers need more alcohol to achieve the same high.

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable, because the teenage brain is still developing — porn effectively rewires the brain in terms of what stimulation it needs to feel aroused.

REAL LOVE CAN’T COMPARE

IF A teenage boy watches a lot of porn, he may well associate arousal and orgasm with images and sounds rather than the experience of being with a real person. It’s not just about what he’s watching either — other aspects of internet porn such as the clicking from video to video, the search-

ing for more shocking or even violent images, all help condition his brain to be sexually aroused, because they can raise dopamine levels.

Watching porn doesn’t prepare them for real-life encounters with a partner.

DANGEROUSLY ADDICTIVE

SCIENTISTS are still unclear about the full effects of porn on the brain. But there have been many studies on adults and teens in the past few years to show that the brain is affected by watching it.

There are several studies showing that chronic use of porn affects the brain in the same way as drug or alcohol addiction. Men who overuse internet porn find they need to find more and more stimulating materials to release the neurochemicals associated with pleasure. But the more they use it, the less pleasure they get out of it.

And the sensitised pathways of the brain might never entirely disappear. It can take up to two years without porn for a man to report his erectile function is back to normal.

LINKS TO SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION

THE impact on a generation of young people is telling. We have seen a tremendous rise in erectile dysfunction (ED) rates in men under 40. Before 2010, the rate was consistently around 2 per cent. But post 2010 — four years after internet porn became widely available at high-speeds — the ED rate ranges from 14-35 per cent.

Those surveys are only asking sexually active men, not virgins or those who are without a partner. So the true rate might be much higher.