Internet porn has been steadily on the rise since the millennium, and now some are saying it is ruining their lives in a really big (or not so big) way.
A recent article in Rolling Stone discusses how internet porn is causing younger men to develop impotence, with stories from men themselves on not being able to get it up when even their doctors are saying that their ED (erectile dysfunction) levels are fine.
One particular "victim" in all of this is a guy named Gabe Deem, who created the website Reboot Nation for men who have been through similar issues that he has been (not being able to "get it up" for his girlfriend) to take charge of their sex lives and "reboot" their porn-heavy brains.
The short of it, Gabe found that masturbating frequently to porn in his early 20's had taken a long-term effect on him years later where he couldn't get hard at all when he was trying to be intimate with another woman? His solution? No porn or masturbation for nine months. After that, he claims that he was able to have sex again. But is this really the case for all men, or just specific ones?
Per the article, "I have absolutely seen a pretty drastic increase in ED rates among young men, especially in the last two, three years," sex therapist Vanessa Marin tells Rolling Stone. "My average client base is starting to get younger and younger." In 2015, a Vanity Fair article on hookup apps by Nancy Jo Sales also alluded to the phenomenon, quoting women who complained about the frequency of men losing their erections. "If a guy can't get hard," one woman said, "and I have to say, that happens a lot, they just act like it's the end of the world."
Others, like sex therapist Ian Kerner, think differently about this issue. "I don't think porn is causing ED, I think porn is one of many factors of a guy with ED," Kerner says, citing performance anxiety, internalized sexual shame, or intimacy issues as possible culprits, particularly as hookup apps create more opportunities for casual sex. "What's underneath the problem isn't porn or masturbation, it's how they're thinking about approaching dating and the anxiety they experience," he says.
What do you think this all boils down to, is it something you can truly self-diagnose or is this more simply based on anxiety that you yourself are causing?