Persistent viewing of pornography leads to sex addiction

Introduction

Addiction refers to a condition whereby a body or brain must have stimuli. Lack of particular stimuli renders the party uncomfortable by possessing too much craving or desires which must be fulfilled in order to regain comfort (American Psychological Association, 2017). Addiction is a psychological disease that is embedded in someone’s brain thus affecting his/ her normal functioning. In the event of addiction, an individual is highly characterized by abnormal cravings and desires to certain actions or materials which render the individual seems restless or unsettled. The paper aims at elucidating on how sex addiction has become pandemic throughout the United States due to the ease of access of pornography granted by the internet.

Studies show that childhoods that are faced with severe experiences and difficulties tend to possess higher chances of addiction. Affected individuals indulge themselves into certain activities as escape goats that later result in addiction. It is evident that lack of an external outlet to minimize such problems causes persons to find other sources to be numb the pain. Researchers hold that people whose life has been faced by negative experiences usually resolve into acting out. However, such individuals face a lot of shame and isolation as a result of acting out sexually. Humans beings are known to be self-centered, as such, they want to feel loved, paid attention to, praised, desire to be desired and even heard (Stein, et al 2001). For this reason, individuals who fail to achieve the aforementioned facets may opt to act out as their way feeling self-sustained. In the same manner, studies prove that inadequate parenting; emotional abuses are key predisposing factors to sexual addiction. These trauma situations cause persons to feel ashamed of whom they are thus affecting how individuals connect with others.

Over the recent years, the increase in technological knowledge and particularly internet has had a significant impact on the sex addiction due to the availability and ease of access to pornographic materials and porn related sites (Laier et al. 2013). Owing to the virtue that viewers from the young to old age have become largely acquainted with the use of the internet, the rate at which such materials are accessed has increased tremendously. However, pornography has its woes too. For a long time, pornographic materials have been associated with interference with child development. They de-sensitize children who could make them act out sexually or engage themselves in risks of sexual activities or behaviors. Also, pornography materials may frighten children leaving them in confused situations which affect their mental development (Stein, et al 2001).

Studies show that children and young adults who view pornography develop a recreational attitude towards sex (DeAngelis, 2007). This is mainly dictated by effects of addiction which make them crave for more and more of sexual behaviors. Persistent viewing of such materials from porn websites and chat rooms increases their desires and tend to seek out for more sexual actions compelling them to sex. As mentioned earlier, addiction is a psychological disease hence pornography has a lot to do with human minds. Persistent viewing of such materials changes the chemical, anatomical and pathological properties of the brain thus impairing individual decisions. Addiction affects prefrontal cortex of the cerebral context thus limiting the capacity and ability of persons to think rationally. Addicts incorrectly weigh the costs and benefits of their actions which change how people make decisions when confronted with conflicting situations (Garcia and Florence, 2010). On the same note, addiction causes impulsivity in that sex or pornographic addicts are more likely to act towards certain desires and wants without necessarily thinking through the possible threats or potential consequences associated with the actions. Also, pornography leads to emotional liability and narcissism. From a clinical perspective, individuals who are addicted to pornographic materials exhibit high levels of fragility and insecurity. Such individuals are liable to emotional turmoil and surprisingly manifest elevated levels of low self-esteem.

Persistent exposure to pornographic materials compels individuals to act out sexually beyond the computer screen. However, as days pass, such people realize that screen is not serving the purpose to their expectations and therefore indulge themselves in more risky activities. Addicts become unsatisfied with what previously excited them. They start exploring new activities, moving to whole new levels of addictions. Experts hold that there is a strong correlation between risky behavior and addiction. Sexual addicts usually take risks regardless of the aftermaths associated with their behaviors. Sexual addiction is progressive in nature, for this reason, sexual addicts progressively move to more risky activities such as stalking and prostitution. Some struggle to control their addiction but apparently bears no fruits. When such happens, they develop severe feelings of low self-esteem and experiences despair. This adds to their need to indulge deeper into addictive behaviors and live in fear of discovering who they are. In some cases, addicts will crave to experience what they view on screens on a personal level which makes them resolve to more risky behaviors (Karila et al. 2014).

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Sexual addictions revolve around an obsession with sexual behaviors. For sexual addicts, sex becomes the central focus in their day to day activities. Signs and symptoms of sex addiction are the same regardless of the gender, one’s history or any other form of disparities. They cut across every individual as long as he or she is an addict. One of the signs of sexual addiction is a lack of self-control over their behaviors (Karila et al. 2014). Sexual addicts lacks hold of their behaviors and will often do things without thinking of the danger and consequences entwined with their actions. Secondly, sexual addiction does not only have an impact on the affected individuals but also on those surrounding them. These are the people who are prone to sexual abuse resulting from the addicts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, consistent viewers of pornography are losing their morals. Many are times we train incoherent behaviors calling them the liberty of sexual choice. Sex education has become a skewed channel of bad morals. Most a times again we fail to follow the ratings in television programs and films. Individuals have allowed freedom to watch everything without checks as parental controls are no longer working nowadays. This is the culture the present generation is exposing to its children which are tremendously increasing the inherent danger.

Research Reflective

The choice of topic was primarily based on the current issue that is facing the present youth. This motivated me into carrying out an in-depth research to substantiate on the various aspects associated with pornographic materials. Initial research began by examining peer-reviewed journals and articles that focused on sexual addiction resulting from pornographic materials. Additionally, the research reviewed other scholars works thereby drawing insights from their past studies and conclusions.

The research was relatively difficult. This is because the topic of pornography and sexual addiction has been in the mainstream for a short period which limits the amount of research and inferences regarding the topic study. For this reason, the study relied mainly on the Google search to find journals and articles associated with the research topic. For instance one of the material explaining pornographic addiction was drawn for this site http://www.akademiai.com/content/g7j56135805q197h/.

To ensure effectiveness in my research, I used documentation, IT, and personal attributes skills. In documentation, I was able to make use of the information I found on journals and articles. Also, searching for materials online was primarily based on my IT skills. Additionally, my personal attributes skills such as attention to detail, self-management and taking responsibility made it possible to carry out the research.

My greatest strength in my research was identifying a social problem. This made it easy to address the key areas touching my research topic. For instance, how pornographic effect persons and society as a whole was one of my strong points. However, one of the weaknesses in the research essay was being limited to the size of the research paper. This deprived me the chance to carry out more integrated research on the topic sentence.

Despite the size of the research, I learned that the issue of pornographic is increasing tremendously over the last years which might have severe impacts on our children, such as fading away of morals and values. Granted another chance to compose the research essay, I would focus more on gathering raw data to help me improve my research and essay as well.