When Porn is Impacting Your Work Day
Like anything that makes you feel good, having a healthy relationship with porn can be difficult. It’s especially challenging in the age of remote work, when many people can watch porn during the day without facing immediate consequences.
In addition to its accessibility, what makes porn so easy to overuse is how quickly it provides pleasure. Porn isn’t an ordeal, like playing a video game, or going out on a date. You get the mental and physical satisfaction you’re seeking in a matter of minutes.
When something that feels so good is just a click away, the temptation to watch porn during working hours is hard to resist. In fact, failing to resist this temptation on a daily basis may be a tell-tale sign that you’re watching too much porn.
What Does Porn Overuse Look Like?
Lots of people watch porn regularly, so it’s hard to tell when you’ve crossed the line from healthy use to overuse. Is porn just something you think about from time to time, or is it an ongoing urge you’re frequently compelled to act on? If you belong to the latter group, porn could end up negatively affecting your personal or professional life in different ways, such as:
- Ignoring or avoiding daily responsibilities
- Your sex life is becoming less satisfying
- You are spending a significant amount of money on porn
How Porn Can Hurt Your Career
Porn can interfere with your career by stopping you from focusing and performing to the best of your ability. You used to be able to focus on your work for hours on end. But now, you’re sitting with your laptop, and you find yourself thinking, “Why should I have to look at this boring stuff all day when I can watch porn instead?”
The more porn you watch during working hours, the harder it is to go back to a porn-free workday. Work may be tedious at times, but porn overuse can make work seem more painful than it actually is. Why? Because the dopamine released from watching porn can create an addiction similar to that of alcohol, drug-use, gambling, etc.
Watching too much porn can literally re-wire your brain chemistry. Pornographic content activates the brain’s reward system in a powerful way. Eventually, your brain’s response to other forms of stimuli (like work) cannot compare to its response to porn.
What to Do If Porn is Impacting Your Work Day
If your porn habit is interfering with your career, it’s time to have a conversation and get your concerns out in the open. This is a crucial step towards changing your perspective towards porn, and a good place to have this conversation is in the judgment-free environment of a sex and intimacy therapist. I’ve helped many – both men and women – overcome excessive porn use and regain their ability to focus on their work.
So, please contact me today for a FREE 15-minute consultation, and let’s start building a plan for getting your focus – and your career – back on track.