How To Spot Porn Addiction Signs and The Problem With Porn In The Adolescent Male

Pornography is one of the most ubiquitous vices in American society, especially with adolescent young boys. Pornhub alone had 5.56 billion visits alone in January of 2025. It’s accessible, mostly free, discreet, and unfortunately for young boys trying to find their way in the world, highly addictive and difficult to quit.

While it’s natural for young boys to be curious about sex in their teenage years, modern-day pornography can inflict long-term harm on how people view sexual encounters, respect women, and expect from a partner in the real world.

Pornography provides a warped view of a healthy sex life and often encourages young men to look at women as objects or something only for their pleasure without consent.

Adolescence is an incredibly difficult time for a young man. They’re impressionable and often don’t understand exactly what they need to do to make their way in the world. If they were to see something giving them an unhealthy impression of what normal relationships look like, it could be damaging and stunt their growth as healthy adults.

Let’s dive into the different dangers of pornography, how it affects young men, and the ways that The Carpenter Shed can help give them purpose, meaning and direction to find a better place in life.

The Problems with Pornography and it’s inclusion into Social Norms

Pornography has been around for years, but it’s exploded in popularity and accessibility during the internet age. There are countless hours of adult videos available to view for absolutely no charge on the internet. This means it’s incredibly easy for everyone, including young, adolescent boys, to view this content before they’re ready to see it and fully understand what’s normal. Here’s how that can be damaging:

Gives Unrealistic Views Of What Healthy Sex Looks Like:

If young men only understand sex through the lens of the pornography industry, it can completely warp what they think is okay. Many of the videos have violent undertones and glorify treating women as inferiors. This is not an okay way to go through life, but it can stick into anyone’s brain, especially that of a young man’s. This can cause conflict, increased anxiety, and fear for young men in future relationships.

It Hurts Men In Relationships Later On In Life:

By viewing sex through pornography, many young men will fail to understand that the sex depicted in porn is unrealistic and often exaggerated. This can hurt them down the line when they’re dating or getting married. If they only see over the top or wild sex on camera, they may have difficulty developing a connection with another woman in the real world, emotionally and physically. This is incredibly dangerous and can prevent them from being happy in the long run. Relationships are one of the best ways to live a happy, healthy and fulfilling life. Although they’re obviously not always necessary, we don’t want young men having anything holding them back if they choose to get married.  

Premature Erectile Dysfunction:

With the advent of internet video porn and how accessible it is, there has been a rise in erectile dysfunction in men at a young age. If people are conditioned to see something so overt all the time to the exaggerated and embellished level of modern porn online, being with a woman in real life can feel less stimulating. Of course, this isn’t because men aren’t attracted to women in real life. It’s because the brain is working on hyperdrive when watching pornography, firing unrealistic levels of dopamine, just like if someone had taken a drug. This is why porn can be so addicting, plus, when someone consumes it frequently over a long period of time, experiencing sex, connection and attraction in the real world doesn’t resonate as well with people. This means that people aren’t always able to see the benefit of a real-life relationship, leading to a significantly lower level of happiness and inability to process emotions in the right way. Early erectile dysfunction is often a physical byproduct of this issue.

Low Self Esteem And A Lack of Self Confidence:

One of the biggest issues with internet porn and its proliferation into today’s society is the effect it has on the self-esteem of young men. There are inherent thoughts that teenage boys and those in their early twenties have that make them feel they need to be macho, filled with machismo and exude strong sexual prowess. However, this is made even worse by the unrealistic scenes shown in modern pornography. When this is all young men have to compare themselves to, it can be incredibly disheartening and lead them into a dark spot. Without proper guidance this is all they’ll know, making them feel like they aren’t stepping up or on par with other men.

Reclusiveness and Retreating from the rest of Society:

One of the major issues with pornography that isn’t often talked about is how it requires young men to shut themselves away from the rest of the world. Since watching it is a private act, not only is it bad for their brains, but it also means they’re not out in the world experiencing life, making friends and real-world connections. This is harmful for young men in the long run, as failure to integrate into society can create issues with work, relationships and having a productive, healthy and happy life.

Lack of Desire for Real Sexual Activity:

When the human brain is exposed to a vast amount of sexually explicit images on a regular basis, it’s only natural that person will not be as excited in regular sexual acts with an actual human. Therefore, they’ll retreat back into pornography, carrying on the vicious cycle of addiction that’s inhibiting them from having a healthy life.  

Now that we’ve reviewed the dangers of pornography, let’s get into the different warning signs to look out for if you think you or a young boy in your life might have an addiction.

Porn Addiction Symptoms: Signs of Porn Addiction To Watch Out For So You Can Spot An Internet Pornography Addiction

Internet pornography can be incredibly addictive for young boys struggling to find their way in the world and cope with trauma. It can disrupt their daily lives, make it hard to connect with others, disrupt romantic relationships and cause them to retreat further into a negative space.

If you’re worried about a young boy who might have an addiction to pornography, be on the lookout for these signs:

Retreat into themselves and failure to venture out:

The biggest issue with a pornography addiction is how it causes young men to retreat into themselves and stay away from others. This can cause people to lose self-esteem, lose relationships and stunt their growth as human beings.  

Lack Of Interest In Romantic or Interpersonal Relationships:

Pornography can inhibit people from having healthy relationships rife with connection and happiness. The images and scenes in pornography can completely hurt how people perceive real relationships and connections with other people. When you watch pornography enough, it will ultimately start to manipulate your brain or cause you to stay away from others. This is incredibly inhibiting to what you need to advance as a human being.

Often Encourages Risky Behavior:

This is one of the major overlooked issues with pornography and how it can twist around the minds of young men. Much of the culture and storylines around it promote things like infidelity, sexual abuse and other unhealthy sexual practices that can hurt young men from leading productive lives in the future. When someone is young and impressionable, every ounce of information can sway them dramatically, especially something like pornography that releases high amounts of intense dopamine into the brain. If someone consumes enough of that content, it can easily influence their subconscious views about sex and relationships, making living a healthier life more difficult.

The Carpenter Shed Can Help Young Men Find Porn Addiction Resources to Drop Their Dependence and Heal from Past Trauma

Of course, in many cases where young boys have become addicted to pornography, the real culprit driving them there is trauma. Many young boys don’t know how to express themselves in healthy ways, so they turn to other escapes like pornography to distract themselves from these bad feelings. While this does provide a temporary reprieve from darker, intrusive thoughts, it doesn’t solve the real issue of what’s causing them pain and often makes the problem worse over time.

At The Carpenter Shed, we help our young boys find a sense of purpose, meaning and direction in life with life coaches and mentors, so that they can move past what hurts them and start anew. This way, they can become productive members of society and lead happier lives free from distractions like pornography. If you have a young boy in your life with similar issues, we’d love to hear from you. Check out our website and contact an admissions advisor to learn more.

There is hope for a better tomorrow; The Carpenter Shed is here to help young boys get there.