Porn Addiction Before, During & After COVID: What the Statistics Say

Did COVID Create a “Porn Addiction” Problem? What the Statistics Actually Tell Us When the world shut down in 2020, our routines changed almost overnight.

People were isolated. Working from home. Spending more time online. Relationships were under stress. Gyms, restaurants, workplaces, schools, and many of the activities people normally used to cope were suddenly unavailable.

And pornography was only a click away.

During the early months of COVID-19, reports of dramatic increases in traffic to pornography websites led to headlines and concerns about a potential wave of porn addiction during the pandemic.

Years later, we can ask a much better question:

Did pornography use actually increase during COVID—and did those changes last after the pandemic?

The answer is more complicated than you might expect.

First, Is “Porn Addiction” Actually a Diagnosis?

Before looking at the statistics, we need to clarify the terminology.

People commonly use phrases such as porn addiction, pornography addiction, porn dependency, or being addicted to porn.

Clinically and scientifically, researchers are often more cautious.

Problematic pornography use (PPU) generally describes pornography use that a person has difficulty controlling and that causes meaningful distress, impairment, or negative consequences.

Porn addiction itself is not currently a standalone diagnosis. Problematic pornography use can, however, occur within compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD), which is recognized in the World Health Organization's ICD-11.

That's important because watching pornography frequently does not automatically mean someone has an addiction or disorder.

The questions become:

Can you control the behavior?

Is it interfering with your relationship, sex life, work, responsibilities, or emotional well-being?

Have you repeatedly tried to reduce the behavior and found yourself unable to do so?

Are you continuing despite significant negative consequences?

Frequency alone doesn't tell us the whole story.

BEFORE COVID: Pornography Was Already Common

Pornography did not suddenly become popular in 2020.

In a particularly useful U.S. longitudinal study, researchers began collecting data from a nationally representative sample of 2,518 American adults in August 2019—before COVID-19 existed as a pandemic.

At that baseline, 38% of adults reported using pornography at least monthly.

The gender difference was substantial:

59% of men reported pornography use at least monthly, compared with 21% of women.

So when COVID arrived, pornography use was already a relatively common sexual behavior—particularly among men.

Then something unprecedented happened.

DURING COVID: Porn Site Traffic Exploded

In March 2020, much of the world entered some form of lockdown or social distancing.

At the same time, Pornhub temporarily offered premium content for free in some areas affected by lockdowns.

The result was dramatic.

Researchers reported that Pornhub traffic increased by approximately 38% to 61% in some regions experiencing severe stay-at-home restrictions and lockdowns. 

Separate research using Google Trends and Pornhub traffic also found increased interest in pornography after late March 2020. Pornhub traffic and pornography-related searches were associated with COVID case numbers and measures of social distancing.

On the surface, that seems to confirm the idea of a COVID “porn boom.”

But website traffic isn't the same thing as porn addiction.

And this is where the research gets particularly interesting.

The Statistic That May Surprise You: Only 14% Reported Increasing Their Porn Use

Researchers followed that nationally representative group of Americans throughout the pandemic.

Data were collected in:

August 2019 → February 2020 → May 2020 → August 2020 → October 2020.

In May 2020—around the height of the initial U.S. lockdown period—36% of participants reported viewing pornography at least once during the previous month.

Among people who had viewed pornography during that period, only 14% said their pornography use had increased since the pandemic began.

Put another way:

86% of pornography users reported that their use had either stayed consistent or decreased. 

That's very different from the narrative that COVID caused everyone to suddenly start watching substantially more pornography.

And the Increase Didn't Last

Here's perhaps the most important finding.

The group that did increase its pornography consumption early in the pandemic didn't continue on an ever-increasing trajectory.

By August 2020, their pornography use had returned to levels similar to the other participants.

Across the study as a whole, pornography use actually trended downward over time for both men and women.

Researchers also found that self-reported problematic pornography use decreased among men and remained low and relatively unchanged among women.

So there appears to have been a real early-pandemic spike for some people.

But the best longitudinal evidence does not support the idea of a widespread, continually escalating “porn addiction epidemic” caused by lockdown.

What About Teenagers During COVID?

Researchers have also looked at adolescents.

One longitudinal study followed 1,771 adolescents, beginning before the pandemic in November 2019 and following them into June 2021.

Researchers found no significant overall change in pornography-use frequency or motivations for using pornography.

Problematic pornography use decreased slightly among boys and increased slightly among girls, but researchers concluded that these differences were so small that they had little practical or clinical significance.

Again, the data tell a more nuanced story than the headlines.

So Why Did Porn Traffic Increase So Dramatically?

Think about what happened in early 2020.

Millions of people's normal routines disappeared.

There was more time at home.

There was isolation.

There was boredom.

There was uncertainty.

There were fewer opportunities for dating and in-person social interaction.

And there was unprecedented access to digital entertainment.

Pornography websites also actively responded to the pandemic, including offering previously paid content for free, which makes website traffic particularly difficult to interpret as evidence of addiction.

Someone visiting a pornography website more frequently during a lockdown doesn't necessarily mean that person developed compulsive pornography use.

Increased opportunity is not the same thing as addiction.

AFTER COVID: What Happened to the “Porn Addiction Epidemic”?

This is where we have to be particularly careful with statistics.

There isn't one definitive “before COVID vs. during COVID vs. after COVID porn addiction rate” because researchers use different definitions, measurements, countries, populations, and time periods.

A recent comprehensive review notes that epidemiological research still has not firmly established the incidence of CSBD or problematic pornography use in the general population, in part because studies use different definitions and measurement approaches.

More recent longitudinal research also suggests that problematic pornography use can be relatively stable over time and is associated with psychological distress, although association doesn't automatically establish which causes the other.

So it would be misleading to claim something like:

“Porn addiction increased X% because of COVID.”

The available evidence simply isn't that clean.

What COVID May Have Done Instead

The pandemic may be better understood as an enormous disruption of people's normal coping systems.

For some individuals, pornography may have become one of those coping strategies.

A person who previously dealt with stress by going to the gym, seeing friends, traveling, dating, playing sports, attending religious services, going out to dinner, or simply leaving the house suddenly had far fewer options.

Pornography offered something immediate:

Distraction.

Stimulation.

Pleasure.

Escape.

Novelty.

Sexual release.

For most people, increased use appears to have been temporary.

But for someone who discovered that pornography became a primary method of coping with stress, loneliness, boredom, anxiety, or uncomfortable emotions, the behavior may have persisted even after lockdown ended.

And that is often the more clinically useful conversation.

“I Watch Porn Every Day. Does That Mean I'm Addicted?”

Not necessarily.

Frequency is worth discussing, but frequency alone does not establish problematic pornography use.

Instead, I would be more interested in questions such as:

Can you choose not to watch it?

Have you repeatedly tried to stop or reduce your pornography use and been unable to?

Are you hiding your pornography use from your partner?

Is pornography interfering with partnered sex?

Are you choosing pornography over intimacy even though you don't want to?

Do you find yourself spending significantly more time watching than you intended?

Is it interfering with sleep, work, parenting, relationships, or responsibilities?

Are you using pornography primarily to escape uncomfortable emotions?

Do you feel as though the behavior is controlling you rather than you choosing the behavior?

Those answers tell us far more than simply asking how many times per week someone watches pornography.

What About Porn, Erections and Sex With Your Partner?

This is another area where men can become frightened very quickly.

Maybe you can easily become aroused while watching pornography—but struggle to get or maintain an erection with your wife or partner.

Or perhaps partnered sex doesn't feel as stimulating as pornography.

That does not automatically prove that pornography caused erectile dysfunction.

Erections and sexual desire are influenced by many variables, including physical health, medications, hormones, stress, sleep, relationship dynamics, sexual expectations, anxiety and performance pressure.

But your pornography and masturbation habits can still be worth exploring as part of the bigger picture.

Instead of immediately labeling yourself a “porn addict,” a better question might be:

“What role is pornography currently playing in my sexuality?”

That's a question we can actually work with.

If Your Porn Habits Changed During COVID and Never Changed Back

For some people, 2020 habits became 2021 habits.

Then 2022 habits.

And eventually they simply became habits.

If pornography has become something you no longer feel fully in control of—or if it's affecting your marriage, erections, desire, intimacy, sexual satisfaction, or relationship—shame usually isn't the most productive place to start.

Curiosity is.

When do I use pornography?

What am I feeling immediately beforehand?

What does pornography give me in that moment?

What am I avoiding?

How is my partnered sex life different from my sexual life alone?

What happens when I try not to watch?

And perhaps most importantly:

Do I actually want my relationship with pornography to be different?

Sex Therapy and Problematic Pornography Use

At Balance & Bliss, conversations about pornography aren't about labeling every person who watches porn as an addict.

They're about understanding the role pornography plays in your sexual life.

For some people, pornography isn't creating significant problems.

For others, it may have become intertwined with sexual avoidance, relationship conflict, erectile concerns, performance anxiety, low desire, masturbation patterns, emotional coping, or difficulty connecting sexually with a partner.

And sometimes the person sitting in my office isn't even sure which category they fall into yet.

That's okay.

You don't need to arrive with a diagnosis.

You can start with:

“Something about my relationship with porn doesn't feel right anymore.”

And we can begin there.