Communicating with another person online about sexual fantasies or exchanging sexual photos has become a multi-billion dollar industry to which no age group or demographic is immune. Research indicates the first viewing of a pornographic image online in the U.S. occurs around age 11, and it is estimated that three to five percent of U.S. adults are addicted to sex.

However, the post suggests that young teens and college students may spend more time on computers than people in other demographic groups. Other research indicates this could make these groups even more vulnerable to online pornography addiction or Internet sex addictions.

Researchers in the study, conducted at the University of New Brunswick, said nearly two-thirds of students attending college or universities are participating in sexual behaviors online. When students engage in sexual activities online, they may feel even more uninhibited because they often believe their identity can’t be found out. The reality, however, is that sexual photos or interactions are never truly private online and cannot be removed from cyberspace. They can also be used as bullying material or appear years later across the Internet.

Additionally, without the ability to receive cues from another human in one-to-one contact, the majority of the value of a conversation is missed, say researchers. As students participate in sexual games online or develop more online relationships, they may be more likely to become desensitized to the value of sincere human relationships. This could put them at higher risk for real-world sexual encounters with multiple partners.

In a news post from KSAT, several people shared their story of finding pornography on a spouse’s computer by surprise, much of it very extreme or bizarre content. This can sometimes be a sign that the user’s addiction has progressed and may have been present for some time.

Additionally, when online pornography is accessed without a spouse or parent’s knowledge, children can easily find it and view it. The problem has been cited as a factor in a growing number of divorces, but the new Porn Detection Stick could help alert a spouse or parent if pornographic images have been viewed.

The Porn Detection Stick can search files and download or save the images or sites that may be pornographic in nature, allowing a user to check the images and sites from a separate computer. While attorneys have expressed concern over privacy violations between spouses, the device joins a list of devices and filters designed to help prevent a pornography addiction before it occurs.

In the U.S., the average age at which a child first views a pornographic image online is 11 years old. It is estimated that three to five percent of the adult population is living with a sexual addiction, and professional help is needed to begin a recovery plan.

One group believed at higher risk for cybersex crime may be young girls, who are noted in increasing legal cases as being manipulated or blackmailed into posting illicit photographs of themselves online. Images can quickly be sent out via texting, email and social media sites, exploiting girls and placing them at greater risk for being pursued by a sexual predator.

Additionally, cybersex photos or videos cannot be removed from the Internet once they’ve been sent out in multiple channels to multiple users, causing serious emotional damage.

Cybersex can take on a variety of forms, but generally involves two partners engaging in an exchange of sexual images or videos along with sexual messages. Many people assume a fictitious identity during cybersex or engage in bizarre activities outside of their normal patterns.

The anonymity that can be accomplished through cybersex also adds to its danger. Sexual predators of any age may pretend to be a teen if they are seeking a teen cybersex relationship. In some parts of the world, cybersex workers collect payment over the Internet for services delivered via web cam, and it can be impossible to determine if the buyer is a minor.

Laws against cybersex with minors and cybersex crimes are increasing, as addressed in a recent article on Defi Media, but the complex nature of social media and online communications makes distribution of sexual images or videos increasingly difficult to manage. Cybersex is also a factor in rapidly increasing numbers of sexual addictions, because the online “high” can be achieved almost anywhere, anytime. Marriage therapists and counselors are also reporting greater numbers of cases involving cybersex as a form of infidelity.

When the drugs stopped working, he would consult a physician, who would diagnose him with “performance anxiety,” and inquire about his use of marijuana or alcohol, his sleep patterns, nutrition, genetics, and religious beliefs, but not ask about his use of pornography. In most cases, doctors could not find any physical problems, and their patients’ impotence would continue or even get worse.

Now new research indicates that pornography can become an addiction that affects the brain, which in turn can cause male impotence. The cure is relatively simple but difficult. Physicians are now advising men to avoid pornography and masturbation for two to three months, and that will, in most cases, fix the problem.

The first time that Internet porn was linked to impotence came in February 2011 when a team of Italian scientists studied 28,000 men and found that many were using porn as early as age 14 and developing symptoms of erectile dysfunction by the time they were in their mid-20s.

“It starts with lower reactions to porn sites, then there is a general drop in libido, and in the end it becomes impossible to get an erection,” said Carlo Foresta, head of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine. He found that men who use porn excessively gradually become immune to the images and unable to perform in real life.

The theory is that using pornography is an addiction and brain disease similar to drug or alcohol abuse. Men can numb their normal response to pleasure through intense stimulation that gradually desensitizes their brains’ chemical response to a neurochemical called dopamine. In normal sexual response, nerve cells in the brain’s reward system produce dopamine, and this activates the libido centers of the hypothalamus. Then nerve impulses signal the genitalia to release nitric acid into the penis and its blood vessels.

However, overuse of pornography can desensitize the dopamine system in the brain in a process similar to what happens in drug addiction. In substance abuse, the human brain can become so overstimulated with dopamine that the person feels a “rush” of euphoria when he first uses drugs. Eventually, he needs larger amounts of drugs to achieve the same effect. Men can apparently build up a similar tolerance to sexual stimuli so that normal experiences with real partners are not enough to produce and maintain erections.

Princeton University professor of psychiatry Jeffrey Satinover said that addiction to pornography is the same as to drugs in terms of alterations in brain chemistry. In this way, porn-induced erectile dysfunction is a physiological, not a psychological problem.

“Only the delivery system and the sequence of steps are different,” he said.

One man, writing on an Internet forum, described the desensitization process as follows.

“After years of porn, I was having trouble with erections,” he wrote. “It had been getting worse and worse for a couple of years. Needed more and more types of porn stimulation, and it still was not helping. I was really worried that the anxiety just pushed me deeper into porn. Hard to believe given the progression. I probably used every type of porn image and video out there except for one: child porn. What scares me is, could I have gone that route too one day?”

What is behind these changes is that today’s generation of young men, unlike their fathers and grandfathers, can access pornography 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Italian study found that about one in three European men use pornography, and 70% of men treated for sexual performance problems had been using it excessively.

The “cure” can be difficult. Men who give up pornography can experience withdrawal syndromes, that might include irritability, depression, insomnia, panic attacks, problems in concentration, and even flu-like symptoms, according to an article in Psychology Today. However, once the person gets through that process, his brain can come back into balance and sexual function returns.

One man described the experience this way.

“When I was consuming porn and beating off, I had severe performance anxiety when it came to actual sex. That is gone. I have no problem. It is nice to get aroused by little things: a revealing blouse, some innocent cleavage, a summer dress, or just a woman’s flowing, shiny hair and fragrance, instead of “Cum Gurgling Sluts” videos.”