Nicole McNichols

It's not keeping you from going out and connecting with other people in real life.

There's nothing wrong with it.

The problem becomes when, especially when we have a generation of young men who feel lonely and disconnected and don't have the tools for finding support for anxiety and emotional issues.

And so they turn to porn because it is kind of the only thing that's available to them.

And so it becomes rather than

a tool of pleasure, it becomes more of a form of emotional avoidance, where instead of thinking about whatever the hard issue is that they're struggling with at hand, whether it's their depression or anxiety or something bad that happened at their job or their relationship, they're sort of blanking out to porn.

Watching it becoming very, you know, and the thing is, is that when we look at problematic porn use, which has really been established as more of a compulsion than an addiction, almost more akin to something that is almost more like OCD, for example, than like a heroin addiction.

that it just becomes this cycle where you feel very, very anxious.

So the way that you seek to alleviate those feelings is the same way that you would, you know, you basically go watch porn.

That porn provides momentarily release, a momentary way to not think about those problems.

But then you feel tremendous guilt and shame about it.

And so then you're back into this spiral.

But what I really wish is that we could stop labeling and shaming people as being porn addicts and just come to this issue with more compassion and acceptance.

Because the reality is that a lot of people watch a lot of porn and have absolutely no issues.

And some people watch porn and have a lot of issues.

But it's not that you are a bad person if you're watching porn.

And you certainly shouldn't go sign up for some program that's going to make you feel like

It's really hard.

And I think the sugar metaphor, by the way, is spot on.

Another example is social media, right?