One of the subjects I have been covering for LifeSiteNews for nearly ten years is that of porn addiction. I believe that widespread pornography use is now the number one threat to our marriages, families, and church communities, and that the sheer scale of porn use in our culture is reshaping our society, beginning with our sexualities. Sexual sin has existed since the Fall, but never in recorded human history have we had so much easy access to so much depravity.
I have been giving talks on pornography since 2011, and the past two years—in which COVID-19 restrictions had people stuck at home, bored, and often very stressed—I have seen a spike in those struggling with porn. People spent more time in front of their devices and more time isolated, creating the conditions for porn addiction or relapse. To better understand this situation and to lay out the help available for those who needed it, I contacted Covenant Eyes, an anti-porn filtering and accountability company, with some questions.
The questions on Covenant Eyes were answered by Dan Armstrong; the questions on personal porn addiction were answered by Brandon Clark. I hope you find these answers helpful and—if you need help—that you will reach out and begin the road to recovery and freedom.
How did the pandemic impact rates of porn addiction?
In the early weeks of the pandemic, Pornhub says visits to its website ranged in increases from 38% to 61%. That’s up from its 2019 average of 115 million visits per day. The total number of visits to the website in 2019 was 42 billion. Pornhub made its premium service free during the first month of the pandemic. Once the pandemic started, Covenant Eyes signups increased by more than 30%.
How did the pandemic effect rates of relapse?
Difficult to tell, but we know that those who were already struggling faced more intense pressure with isolation and other stresses of the pandemic, which are triggers for most people who struggle with porn.
What advice do you have for those who are struggling with pornography–or those who have relapsed?
My advice would be to never surrender, no matter what. I have been in some very dark places with my pornography struggle, places that led me to want to give in and accept that this would be part of who I am, a porn user. You may be experiencing similar thoughts or feelings of defeat and shame, especially with a relapse; but, defeat and shame don’t define you because you are not the sum of your weaknesses. I invite you to reject that shame and the voices inside you that say you will never be free and to keep moving forward one day, one hour, one moment at a time. If you are committed to finding victory in this struggle, don’t let whatever falls you may experience along the way deter you from rising again. When, yes, when, you find the freedom you deeply desire, you will see (at least this was the case for me) that all the struggles, all the pain, and all the suffering of the battle was worth it.
