GROUP TWO.

Social Media and

Pornography
Addiction.
Date: 27th April 2023.
Members: Ruth Olotu, Kene Obiekwe, Faruq Olami, Nneoma Osuji, Ricardo
Osawemen.

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 Agenda
The increasing use of social media and pornography has
raised concerns about addiction and its impact on mental
health. In this presentation, we will explore the definition,
effects, and interconnections of social media and
pornography addiction, as well as prevention and treatment
strategies.

By the end of this presentation, we hope to

increase awareness and understanding of the
risks associated with social media and
pornography addiction, and provide practical
solutions for individuals struggling with these
issues.

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 What is Social Media
Addiction?
Social media addiction is a behavioral addiction that
involves excessive use of social media platforms
(Andreassen, Pallesen, & Griffiths, 2017).
Individuals with social media addiction may experience
symptoms such as compulsive checking of notifications,
withdrawal symptoms when unable to access social media,
and neglect of other responsibilities (Bányai et al., 2017).
It is a behavioral addiction that is characterized as being
overly concerned about social media, driven by an
uncontrollable urge to log on to or use social media, and
devoting so much time and effort to social media that it
impairs other important life areas.

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 What is
Pornography
Addiction?
Pornography addiction, also known as compulsive
sexual behavior disorder, is a behavioral addiction
that involves persistent and escalating patterns of
sexual behaviors involving pornography (Kraus et al.,
2015).

Porn addiction is, in theory, when you can't stop

looking at porn, even if you want to. And the
obsession gets to the point that it interferes with
work, relationships, and other parts of daily life. It's
easy to understand how this could be a problem with
the widespread availability of internet porn today.

After this, it's important to note the mechanisms behind addiction, and explain them to
the class.

The brain’s reward system releases dopamine to reward an individual with pleasure when
certain activities are performed that the brain perceives as necessary for survival.
Dopamine is a powerful neurotransmitter that helps create this pleasure response and
targets the decision-making center of the brain.

The brain’s reward system can be activated during any pleasurable activity. The more an
activity is repeated, the more it becomes ingrained in the brain’s neural circuitry as a
necessary activity.

The reward system subsequently compels the individual to seek out the activity in the
same way it compels one to eat. The executive center of the brain is programmed to seek
out the behavior no matter what the cost.

The body develops a tolerance to dopamine, resulting in a need for higher dopamine
levels in order to experience pleasure. The compulsion to continue seeking the substance
becomes a matter of survival rather than pleasure.

When the activity is stopped, intense cravings occur, and the individual can no longer
experience pleasure from ordinarily pleasurable activities.

As a result of these chemical changes in the brain’s reward system, behavioral addictions
like social media addiction are physically as well as psychologically addictive. Withdrawal
symptoms

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for substance abuse and behavioral addictions are similar and may include agitation,
irritability, difficulty sleeping, and personality changes.

Social media apps are addictive by design. They receive increased advertising revenue as
users spend more time on their respective platforms. They use the Fogg Behavioral Model
to turn casual social media use into a habit by implementing the following three-pronged
approach, which perfectly mirrors the addiction process:

Motivation
Anticipation teens feel about getting likes, comments, or posts
Fear of missing out (FOMO)
Action
The physical act of reading and responding, such as liking or commenting
Trigger
The circumstance that activates the motivation, such as a phone vibrating when a
notification is received

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 Social Media
Addiction and
Pornography
Addiction, Is
there any
connection?

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 More and more people are
This is especially seen with
using and getting addicted
how the age demographic of
to social media than ever
first time sexually explicit
before, and because of this
content viewers has been on
excessive overuse, a young
a staedy decline with the rise
child or teen's brain to
in social media addiction.
constantly seek out

immediate gratification,
As more and more kids, and
leading to obsessive,
adults get addicted to social
compulsive and addictive
media, so do they get
behaviors that only get
addicted to pornography.
worse over time without
traetment.

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 Data doesn't lie.
A side by side comparison on increased social media
addiction and pornography addiction.

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 Fear of missing out (FOMO).

Causes of A strong fear triggered by thinking you're missing out on the full
experience of something, mostly prevalent among teens, and
Social media young adults.

Pornography The need for a security blanket to deal with loneliness,

Addiction. awkwardness, or anxiety.

Finding common ground.

This loneliness then leads people to addictive use of social media,
where they are granted a false sense of security and community.

The desire to self-medicate underlying issues such as

depression or boredom.

Some people may be using social media and hence, pornography,

to fill holes in which they were not aware they had.

Asie from the generally known couses of pornography such as underaged exposure to
sexually explicit content, and in most cases, sexual abuse/assault, a less common causes
of this phenomenon are listed here.

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 Effects of Social Media and Pornography Addiction.
Introversion – Introverted teens tend to be more passive online, liking and commenting on existing posts
1
rather than starting their own. This is often a reflection of their offline difficulties initiating relationships.

Poor body image – Poor body image is most prevalent in girls, who often post edited, idealized images of
2 themselves. Any resulting positive feedback fosters addiction as these girls live vicariously through their
idealized selves on social media.

Promotion of sexual violence - 88.2% of top-rated porn scenes contain physical aggression (spanking,
3 gagging, slapping, etc.); 48.7% contain verbal aggression (name calling). Pornhub is also infested with rape
videos, with these victims also being vitims of sexual trafficking.

Relationship destruction - Social media addiction has shown to negatively affect romantic and platonic
4
relationships, as it reduces the amount of qaulity time partners are likely to spend with each other.

Child sexual exploitation - It monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women
5 showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags. A
search for “girls under18” (no space) or “14yo” leads in each case to more than 100,000 videos.

Impulsivity and disinhibition – Poor impulse control and sensation-seeking lead teens to do whatever feels
5
good at the moment without regard for consequences, making them vulnerable to addictions in general.

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 How can we treat / prevent these addictions?
SOCIALISE: GET OFF THE INTERNET AND TALK ABOUT REAL THINGS. INVITE YOUR FRIENDS OVER AND DO
SOMETHING FUN WITH THEM.
FIND THINGS TO DO OUTDOORS: YOU CAN JOIN A SPORTS TEAM, A VOLUNTEER PROGRAM, A CIVIC
GROUP, OR SOMETHING SIMILAR TO FEEL USEFUL AND HAVE A GOOD TIME.
SEEK COUNSELING: YOU CAN ASK A TRUSTED FRIEND FOR HELP WITH THIS, OR YOU CAN GO TO
THERAPY. YOU CAN ALSO SET SOME GOALS WITH THEM ABOUT HOW TO BEHAVE, WHICH WILL KEEP YOU
IN CHECK.
PUT A STOP TO EXCESSIVE USAGE OF SMARTPHONES: ONCE YOU REALIZE THAT BEING ADDICTED
TO SOCIAL MEDIA IS BAD FOR YOU AND THAT IT'S TAKING OVER YOUR LIFE, YOU CAN START TO STAY
AWAY. DOWNLOAD APPLICATIONS THAT PREEVNT YOU FROM SEEING UNSOLICITED SEXUALLY EXPLICIT
CONTENT AS YOU SURF THE INTERNET.
DIGITAL DETOX PROGRAMS, WHERE INDIVIDUALS TAKE A BREAK FROM ALL TECHNOLOGY FOR A
PERIOD OF TIME, CAN ALSO BE EFFECTIVE IN BREAKING THE CYCLE OF ADDICTION (BOTH PORNOGRAPY
AND SOCIAL MEDIA). (BORLAND & CAUDWELL, 2019).

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 In conclusion, social media and pornography
addiction can have serious negative effects on
both individuals and society at large. It is
important to seek treatment and support, and to
implement prevention strategies such as setting
limits on screen time and avoiding explicit
content. By doing so, we can combat this growing
problem and protect our mental health,
relationships, and overall well-being. Let's work
together to raise awareness and make progress
in overcoming social media and pornography
addiction.

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 Andreassen, C. S., Pallesen, S., & Griffiths, M. D. (2017). The relationship between addictive use of social media and
video games and symptoms of psychiatric disorders: A large-scale cross-sectional study. Psychology of Addictive
Behaviors, 31(8), 959–964. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000310

Bányai, F., Zsila, Á., Király, O., Maraz, A., Elekes, Z., Griffiths, M. D., & Demetrovics, Z. (2017). Problematic social media
use: Results from a large-scale nationally representative adolescent sample. PLoS ONE, 12(1), e0169839.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169839

Kraus, S. W., Voon, V., Potenza, M. N., & et al. (2015). Should compulsive sexual behavior be considered an addiction?
Addiction.
110(4), 603-610. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12823

https://www.yurishwedoff.com/exploring-the-prevalence-of-internet-addiction-among-internet-users/

Resource
https://pornaddictiontest.com/pornography-statistics/

Borland, R., & Caudwell, K. M. (2019). Digital detox: The effect of smartphone abstinence on mood, anxiety, and craving.

Page
Addictive Behaviors Reports, 10, 100226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2019.100226

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.html

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm

https://www.yurishwedoff.com/exploring-the-prevalence-of-internet-addiction-among-internet-users/

https://socialmediavictims.org/social-media-addiction/causes/

https://pornaddictiontest.com/pornography-statistics/

https://famisafe.wondershare.com/block/stop-porn-addiction-with-the-help-of-technology.html

https://enough.org/stats_porn_industry#:~:text=88.2%25%20of%20top%2Drated%20porn,verbal%20aggression%
20(name%20calling).

You can also record a video inside the editor! Go to 'Uploads'

and click on 'Record yourself'.

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