Signs you have a problem with porn

It's about control, not frequency

There's no number of times a week that makes porn use a problem. Some people watch rarely and feel out of control. Others watch often and don't. What matters is whether you're choosing it, and whether it's costing you things you care about.

Ten honest questions

1. Do you often watch for longer, or go further, than you meant to?
2. Have you tried to stop or cut down, more than once, and found you couldn't keep it up?
3. Has what you watch become more extreme or more novel over time, because the old content stopped working?
4. Do you reach for porn when you're stressed, bored, lonely, anxious or rejected, to make the feeling go away?
5. Do you lose sleep to it, staying up later than you planned?
6. Has it taken time from work, study, friends or things you used to enjoy?
7. Do you hide it, and carry a low hum of shame about it that nobody else can see?
8. Has it affected your interest in real partners, or the way you see people?
9. Do you feel restless or irritable when you can't use it?
10. Do you keep using it even though you've clearly decided you don't want to?

What your answers mean

This isn't a diagnostic test, and there's no score. But a pattern of yeses, especially to questions 1, 2, 3 and 10, describes the core of what researchers call problematic pornography use: a loss of control that persists despite consequences.

If you said yes to a few, that's common and very workable. Many people in this position stop without professional help once they understand how the hook works.

If you said yes to most of them, or the costs are serious, reading and an app can still help, and it may also be worth talking to a therapist who works with compulsive sexual behaviour.

Signs that aren't signs

• Liking sex. A healthy sex drive isn't a symptom.
• Masturbating. Masturbating without porn isn't the problem. The gray zone.
• Guilt that comes only from your beliefs. Research on moral incongruence finds that people whose values conflict with their porn use tend to feel more addicted at the same level of use. That guilt is real and worth taking seriously, but it isn't the same thing as loss of control. The ICD-11 says distress that comes only from moral disapproval isn't enough for a diagnosis of compulsive sexual behaviour disorder.

Why the escalation question matters

Question 3 is the one many people recognize most. A reward system flooded often enough protects itself by turning its own volume down. The same clips stop working, so you go looking for newer, stronger, stranger ones. That isn't your real taste changing. It's tolerance, and it reverses when the flood stops. Why porn hooks the brain.

What to do next

You don't need to be sure before you start. Read with an open mind, carry on as you are for now, and decide when you're ready. When you do decide, decide completely. How to quit porn.

rerute starts with a few private questions about how often, when, where and what sets it off, and writes your first plan from your answers. Nothing about what you log goes to advertisers or analytics.

Questions people ask

How do I know if I'm addicted to porn?

Look at control rather than amount: using more than you mean to, failed attempts to stop, needing more extreme content, using to escape feelings, and carrying on despite costs. Several of these together suggest a real problem.

Is watching porn every day an addiction?

Not automatically. Frequency alone doesn't define it. If you watch daily and can't stop when you want to, or it's costing you sleep, focus or relationships, it's worth taking seriously.

Is there a test for porn addiction?

Researchers use questionnaires such as the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale and the Brief Pornography Screen, and a clinician can assess you properly. The ten questions here are a starting point, not a diagnosis.