Negative Effects of Porn on Your Brain, Body, Relationships, and Society

Can porn negatively impact you or have negative side effects on your sexual and mental health, and the health of our society? The short answer is yes, and the longer answer requires an explanation of decades of studies.

Did you know that the average internet user spends over 40% of their waking hours online?1

40%! That’s a lot of time on the internet.

Whether streaming a new Netflix series, scrolling through social media, or sending memes to friends, everything we consume communicates a message. So, does the media we consume online actually have an effect on us, or is it passively consumed and then quickly forgotten?

Countless researchers have been asking similar questions since the dawn of the Internet, and according to their findings, yes, our internet consumption affects the way we think and behave.

From poorer mental health2 to more negative body image,34 studies are increasingly clear that what people consume online has the potential to affect them—both positively, and negatively.

So, with that in mind, considering that an estimated 91.5% of men and 60.2% of women consume porn, let’s take a few moments to examine how porn may be affecting its consumers.5 Is porn “bad” for you? Can porn negatively impact you or have negative side effects on your sexual health, mental health, and the health of our society?

The short answer is yes, and the longer answer requires a lot of research and explaining decades of studies.

Keep in mind that our organization, Fight the New Drug, is a non-religious and non-legislative nonprofit, so we’re not here to talk about how anything is “bad”—not even people who watch porn.