In the first 30 days of COVID, pornography use increased by 18%. Almost six months later that number has surely doubled. Restlessness, uncertainty about the future, boredom among teens and young adults (mostly), and fear make up some of the main reasons people engage porn. As I have said before, pornography in most cases provide a reward system for those who feel cheated in life or robbed of opportunities or simply feel that they have worked too hard not to deserve it.
But the harsh reality is that porn leaves us empty; incapable of fulfilling even the slightest desire to find life or newness. Pornography changes the human mind to see an alternative universe where one would like to dwell, but whose reality quickly turns to dust.
Another interesting area of research is how the impact of porn changes the intellect. I would not be surprised to discover 20 years from now that the main reason for the post-persuasion age is the unrestricted use of porn. It rewires the pathways in the brain and causes an individual to stop desiring deep things in life and thus longing for the cheap and destructive and stupid slogans.
I can predict that the frequent porn user does not see the role of the mind as a needed approach to honoring God (Mat. 22:37). Pornography removes the need for depth in life and chooses to satisfy itself in trivialities. The deep things, the big books, the long-form conversations fail to grab the attention when the imagination is wrapped in false versions of reality.
Men, when tempted to see porn today, remember your God, your wife and your children and like Luther, find a firm inanimate object and throw it at the devil, and say, “Get thee, behind me, for I am baptized in the Triune Name! My imagination belongs to Another!”
The Psychology of Porn
