Pandemic compounded porn addiction, experts say

Working from home rules introduced during the coronavirus pandemic have spurred a rise in pornography addiction, experts have said.

The number of people seeking help for addiction to internet porn has almost doubled during the pandemic.

And some people are spending as long as 14 hours a day watching sexually explicit content, according to a clinic helping addicts.

The Laurel Centre, the largest sex and pornography addiction clinic in the UK, saw 750 porn addicts in the first 6 months of 2022.

This compares to 950 people seeking help for addiction throughout the whole of last year.

Therapists at the clinic spend around 600 hours a month helping people now compared to 360 hours per month in 2019.

Sex Addicts Anonymous UK told MailOnline that the UK is facing a "public health crisis" with toxic pornography.

"Pornography [is] available at no cost to anyone, which is especially worrying for our young people", the group said.

CARE is campaigning for legal changes to prevent children accessing pornography sites through the Online Safety Bill.

Age verification technology can be used to prevent under-18s stumbling across disturbing content.

More information about our campaign can be found on our cause page: CARE for Online Safety | CARE