A video for distraction, a brief moment of relaxation: people use pornography for different reasons. If you want to reflect on your habits, you can start by noticing the place they occupy in your everyday life. Does your use remain a conscious choice? Or is it becoming harder to keep the boundaries you set for yourself?
When pornography becomes a coping strategy
Pornography can be used to temporarily push aside unpleasant feelings or relieve stress. A study involving 340 adults found associations between problematic use, loneliness and difficulties with emotion regulation. The study establishes associations, but not a clear cause-and-effect relationship.
When someone repeatedly experiences pornography use as a source of short-term relief, it can become an established coping strategy. One possible pattern is tension followed by use, then temporary relief. Afterwards, the original feelings may return, sometimes accompanied by self-criticism. This pattern does not apply to everyone. Regret alone is not evidence of a disorder.
A useful question for self-reflection is therefore: what need am I trying to meet right now — sexual pleasure, relaxation, connection or distraction?
The role of platforms
Smartphones and streaming services provide almost constant access to a vast range of pornographic content. Research examines, among other things, the roles that attention-grabbing cues and difficulties with behavioural control may play in problematic use.
Recommendation systems also select and personalise content. Australia’s online safety regulator, eSafety, notes that these systems can amplify risks depending on their design and are often geared towards keeping people engaged for longer. This raises a question for the debate about pornography: how easy do platforms make it to keep watching, and how well do they support a deliberate break? This does not, however, establish that algorithms cause an individual to lose control.
When professional support may help
A persistent pattern may be clinically significant when repeated attempts to cut back are unsuccessful and the behaviour continues despite substantial negative consequences. Relationships, health, work or other interests may be neglected as a result.
Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder is classified as an impulse control disorder in the ICD-11. A high sex drive, frequent masturbation or pornography use alone is not sufficient for this diagnosis. Distress arising solely from moral disapproval of one’s own behaviour does not establish the diagnosis either.
Speaking openly, without shaming
A balanced discussion should make room for different experiences: those of people who use pornography by choice and those who are distressed by it. Hasty labels and sweeping assumptions about “unhealthy” sexuality can make an appropriate assessment more difficult. A sexual medicine review also highlights these concerns.
Self-reflection instead of shame: How PornLess works
PornLess supports this early stage of self-reflection with information and a free self-check. The service aims to help people look more closely at their habits and develop personal goals for change.
“Anyone who wants to change their pornography use needs guidance and an understanding of their own needs. With PornLess, we want to encourage people to reflect on their habits without putting themselves down and to find their own path,” says PornLess founder Thomas Becker.
People seeking support should be able to talk about loss of control, loneliness or relationship difficulties without being judged. Psychotherapy or sex therapy can offer a first point of contact. A self-check can support reflection; it cannot replace a professional diagnosis.
Sources and further reading
Kraus et al. (2018): Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder in the ICD-11
eSafety Commissioner (2026): Recommender systems and algorithms
