With the increase in internet popularity and internet users throughout the years, came an increase in the accessibility of online pornography. The ease of posting and watching a variety of videos for free, at any age, without having to walk into a store and risk being seen by someone, has greatly influenced the online-pornography trend. In our current society, the media portrays that people who partake in pornographic actions online are “bad” and are thus associated with Problematic Internet Use (PIU), or behaviors related to the amount of time spent on the internet. Infrequent internet users use information they receive from sensationalized news stories of dramatic incidents on the net to form strong impressions and attitudes towards a bigger picture, known as the availability heuristic principle.
Wallace attributes the anonymity, physical distance, and perceived lack of accountability in cyberspace to differences in the nature of pornography use and its effects on behavior. The individual factor of locus of control, and the internet factors of operant conditioning, maintenance on virtual presence, and newbie disease also contribute to the development of PIU with online pornography. The degree to which someone believes that they have control over a circumstance is known as locus of control. Davis et al. focused on this individual difference and formed an online cognition scale (OCS) that found that PIU is in fact influenced by a person’s diminished impulse control, amount of loneliness/depression, feelings of interpersonal social comfort, and desired distraction/procrastination. Internet pop-ups containing links and pictures of pornographic websites are related to operant conditioning because by clicking on one website, the reward of a link to another pornographic website appears. Web-cams used for pornography filming provide maintenance of virtual presence for users as they are accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Lastly, the amount of pornographic pop-ups and web-cam invitations received during a given time affect the fluctuation of this online activity especially after a first encounter, or newbie disease.
Caplan expanded the definition of PIU to maladaptive cognitions and behaviors involving internet use that result in negative academic, professional, and social consequences. If a person excessively and compulsively uses an online activity, they are considered to have adhered to the theory of PIU and psychosocial well-being. Those who suffer from psychosocial distress (i.e. Davis et al.’s four factors within the OCS) hold negative views about their FtF social competence and thus prefer online interaction because it is less threatening (i.e. do not risk running into someone while having pornography in their possession). This reinforced preference for online interaction contributes to excessive and compulsive use of the online activity thus worsening their psychosocial problems.
Mixed views of pornography use are definitely a unique property to this online activity. Some social scientists believe that the use of sexually explicit material is harmless because it can be a functional, healthy, and liberating way to provide education, erotic enhancement, an outlet for exploration, and entertainment. Pornography has also been used in some therapeutic treatment programs for sexual dysfunctions. On the other hand, many focus on the ethical and moral issues involved in pornography, especially those relating to the exploitation and objectification of women based on the notion that males are the principal users of this online activity. Should internet pornography be associated with PIU? I’ll let you be the judge.
1 comment:
Hi, Krystal! This was a great, well thought-out and well-integrated post. You picked a difficult and occasionally touchy subject and tied it in perfectly to class lecture and readings. I feel that the biggest issue impacting pornography’s consideration for PIU is in its compulsive and voyeuristic nature. While on an intellectual level I have no issues with pornography, because it truly can serve as a healthy outlet for sexual desires that might not fit entirely into mainstream society. However, pornography in the online realm is a slightly different beast. There are studies demonstrating how people are able to become psychologically and, to some degree, physically addicted to internet pornography. This clearly has negative effects not just on the individual, but on society as well. A porn-addicted individual may begin to feel it is acceptable to function in real-world society as one does on a porn site. A passive sexual voyeur online can become at the least a chauvinist who disparages women, and in the worst case a sexual offender who believes the outlet of the internet is the same thing as real life, when it is in fact not. These possible negative impacts have not been nearly studied enough, but there is still literally tons of interesting information out there about this topic.
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