What is it like to feel you are addicted to pornography? Anti-porn campaigners are increasingly warning of a public health crisis, an epidemic of men suffering from impotence, coldness towards their partners, and worse. We鈥檝e examined the evidence for porn addiction聽and found it is at most a minor problem, but there are some (mostly men) who say it is ruining their lives.
To find out why, we spoke to Alexander Rhodes, founder of , a website that helps people stop using porn, generally through three-months of abstinence from sex and masturbation, known as 鈥渞ebooting鈥�.
Rhodes was 21 when he became unhappy with his 4-times-a-day porn habit. He could only stay erect during sex by fantasising about porn. 鈥淚 was at a low point and seeking answers to why I felt such a slave to this.鈥�
After quitting, he says, 鈥渋t was like night and day 鈥� it鈥檚 really life-changing in terms of sexual encounters. You start to care if they had an enjoyable experience, rather than this one-sided race to an orgasm.鈥� He also felt it improved his energy and motivation.
Rhodes spun off a Reddit group into a commercial website, which he now, age 26, runs full-time. The site has been criticised for exaggerating the benefits of quitting 鈥� on its front page, it promises people superpowers. But Rhodes says that鈥檚 how it feels when people鈥檚 potential is no longer 鈥渟quelched by their addiction to porn鈥�. Many ex-users report impressive benefits like better sleep, clearer skin and more confidence, although some of that could be a placebo effect.
NoFap claims over a million monthly users across its social media sites, though Rhodes won鈥檛 give exact figures. 鈥淵ou have no idea how many men tell me 鈥業 really want to thank you鈥�. A surprisingly large number of women say they struggle with a lot of the same side effects too.鈥�
Rhodes says he has no problem with masturbation except when it involves pornography. 鈥淲e want people to make educated decisions about how to use their genitals.鈥�
He always wanted an online career. After college he had a brief stint at Google, so he鈥檚 鈥渓iving the dream鈥�. 鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 not my original dream, but it鈥檚 close. It just has a little bit more to do with porn than I envisioned.鈥�
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淢ake educated decisions about using your genitals鈥�
