Dr. Alok Kanojia

So now like we've added a dimension of our brain, the empathic circuit, the social circuits, the relationship circuits are now starting to activate with pornography.

So that's like a whole different ballgame.

And then there's a lot of data just about ease of access and things like that.

I think pornography addiction, you know, it's interesting, a very strong risk factor is prepubescent exposure to pornography.

Young, young kids are on the internet.

Majority of people actually get exposed to their first pornography now before they hit puberty.

But there's something about when you get exposed to pornography when your brain is developing before puberty, it increases your risk factor

It increases the risk of developing addiction later in life.

So there is something just special about sex and the way that it affects our brain.

You know, we're talking about salience and things like that.

We've basically evolved this whole thing to procreate.

So when we get visual stimuli, when we get auditory stimuli, you know, it turns our brain on in a very profound way.

We see a lot of emotional suppression.

So what a lot of people don't realize, I work with a lot of people who struggle with pornography, really the emotional regulation component is huge.

They're not horny.

It's not necessarily a lot of masturbation, which is what a lot of people assume.

Oftentimes it's like second screen kind of stuff.

It's watching pornography like when you use the restroom and just like you're not doing – you're not jerking off or anything.

You're just like watching porn.

So sort of like a numbing out type of activity?