Sexual Addiction & the Internet

The Internet is a scientific advancement of tremendous power and importance. What is said below is not an attack upon the Internet. Just as the Internet has come to bear on so many aspects of the human condition, it has also come to bear on human sexuality.

The Internet is having a huge impact on human sexuality:

• Sexual words are among the most searched in the world
• The sheer size of the industry that provides sexual material to the internet
• An infinite variety of material is available through picture sites, chat rooms, live shows, bulletin boards and web-cams
• It also provides education, safe sex information, information and help for people living in isolation and for sexual minorities

Internet sexual addiction is a form of sexual addiction. It is said by researchers that the thing that makes it so addictive and problematic for some people (some call it the 'crack cocaine of sexual addiction') is that it has the following characteristics:

• Anonymity - Well, it 'seems' to be anonymous
• Affordability - Relatively speaking
• Availability - 24/7
• Specificity - It can exactly match an individual sexual template
• Variety - There are endless images and contacts

All of this makes it is very easy for someone to get lost in an infinite search for the ultimate hit. While the addict is involved in this process of acting out (or any process of acting out, but this one is a particularly powerful format) the addict is caught up in intense feelings of merger- almost a trance like state. It is as though other feelings close down and the only experience is one of a tunnel of pleasurable oblivion.