Addicted to porn?

[MariaHernandez]

Hi guys, I'm having a little life crisis. I'm a 19 year old girl who still watches porn. I know it's something normal but I don't think that's my case. I watch porn approximately like 4 times a week sometimes 5, and I'm no expert but I think that's a lot. Normally I masturbate to it one time a day. But sometimes 3 times a day, it depends on my mood. And sometimes even when I'm not in the mood I do it just because I'm bored. Does that affect my sex life or something? I've had sex before and it feels good but it's like a different kind of good. Porn and masturbation is way easier. Should I stop whatching it? Am I too old for that?

[Karyn]

Addiction isn't really a framework that works for porn or sex (whether it's partnered sex or masturbation): people can find that watching porn becomes compulsive for them, but it isn't really addictive in the same way that chemical substances are. There also isn't any age at which point someone is 'too old' for porn or masturbation: the majority of people of all ages masturbate, and plenty of people of all ages use porn as well, sometimes infrequently, sometimes quite a lot. What matters is whether you feel like it's interfering with the rest of your life.

You say you watch porn when you're bored, but is it something you feel like you don't have control over? For instance, if you were bored and didn't want to watch porn, would you just as easily be able to choose to do something else?

[MariaHernandez]

Yeah I mean I can easily do something else but I just prefer to watch porn instead, and I do it a lot even when I'm not horny I just watch it and masturbate cause it feels good. I haven't fail in college or anything because of porn, it doesn't interfere with my homework or daily life stuff. But sometimes I feel really guilty because I do it almost every day of the week

[Karyn]

If it's not interfering with the rest of your life and you feel like you can choose to do something else, then it doesn't sound like there's a problem. Different people masturbate and/or watch porn with different frequencies, you choosing to do so more often than others might isn't anything to feel guilty about.