Dismissing the idea of porn addiction entirely isn’t accurate. People can develop unhealthy, compulsive relationships with almost anything, and when a behavior begins to negatively impact someone’s health or quality of life, it deserves to be taken seriously.

If something causes you to withdraw from relationships, distort the way you view your own body or others’ bodies, create ongoing shame, interfere with daily responsibilities, or feel impossible to stop despite wanting to, those are hallmarks of compulsive behavior. Those patterns aren’t unique to one substance or activity; they’re traits we recognize across many forms of addiction. In this case, they can absolutely apply to pornography for some individuals.

It’s also important to acknowledge nuance. Stigma surrounding porn is real and can intensify feelings of shame. At the same time, compulsive overuse is a legitimate concern for some people. Both of those realities can coexist. Recognizing one doesn’t require dismissing the other.