Coronavirus is affecting our lives in so many ways. Just a short time ago we were able to go out to restaurants with our friends and family, go to concerts, attend festivals and do the things that brought much joy and happiness. Instead now we are often socially isolated, resorting to zoom calls for our social connection, seeing the same 3 or 4 people we always see for dinner and sometimes feeling trapped with our stress level rising. This stress level can have a huge impact on our sex lives and intimacy.
One way this is showing up is in the world of pornography. To put it simply, porn consumption rates have been increasing across the globe during the coronavirus pandemic. Pornhub, a pornographic video sharing website, saw traffic to the site in the United States increased by 6 percent from March 8, 2020 to March 17, 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic got into full swing with social distancing and contact. Similar increases during the same time period were noted in Canada, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom with sharper increases (greater then 20%) in Hong Kong, Spain and Italy.
Common logic would guess that porn searches are up because more people are at home with much more time on their hands. People might be more bored, feeling more isolated and having less excitement and connection in their lives. Porn can serve as an outlet for these feelings and a form of escapism into a fantasy world. It could also be serving as a coping mechanism for dealing with fears and anxieties around the cornoavirus disease and its impact on our lives.
- You’re spending more time on it than you wish.
- It’s affecting your work or relationships.
- You feel that you don’t have control over your porn use and are distressed by it.
- Your sexual expectations have become unrealistic.
- You find it difficult to experience pleasurable sex.
- You feel shameful or guilty about watching or otherwise engaging with porn.
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