Average Pornhub visit of 9 minutes, 16 seconds in 2015 indicates most of its viewers are not addicted to adult films

Is watching porn films addictive? The answer would probably be subject to debate, with one camp insisting it is addictive and the other side saying it is not.

When adult materials such as magazines and films were difficult to acquire and had to be hidden, people – especially youth – who get their hands on such materials would likely spend hours watching or reading these materials. Many would likely also act on the erotic stimulus by masturbating while or after watching the movie.

However, in the light of adult materials being so easily available, porn movie fans spend less time watching X-rated movies. For those who accessed adult films at the top source of erotic movies, Pornhub, the global average of time spent per visit was only 9 minutes and 16 seconds in 2014, reports the Web site.

Explaining the phenomenon, Dr Laurie Betito, psychologist, sex therapist and author of “The Sex Bible for People over 50,” says, “This indicates that most people are not ‘addicted’ in a way that they spend all of their time on porn, or doing little else with their time.” She add, “Your average person only stays long enough to find what they like and masturbate to it.”

In 2015, the average went up by only 4 seconds, although in some countries, people have more time to spare to watch PornHub movies. Six nationalities logged average times spend per visit above the global average. It is topped by Filipinos, who spent 12 minutes and 45 seconds in 2015, followed by Americans (9 minutes, 51 seconds), Australian (9 minutes, 36 seconds), Indians (9 minutes, 30 seconds), Canadians (9 minutes, 27 seconds) and Dutch (9 minutes, 23 seconds).

Although the Pornhub annual report showed that “lesbian” was the most popular search term in 2015, there was also a rise in searches for “mom,” “MILF” (or mommy I would like to f***) and “step mom” which ranked third after “teen.” In fourth place in “cartoon,” followed by milf in fifth and mom in sixth place, reports Mashable.

The peak of Pornhub visits are from 9 pm until midnight, although there is also a noticeable afternoon spike at 4 p.m. Betito says, “The peak in the afternoon indicates that people are likely logging on at work … when they want to rest their brains perhaps and look for distractions.”

But other experts, who testified in a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on porn in November 2014, differ from Betito’s opinion. They say that porn has a toxic effect on the brain similar to cocaine. A psychologist even claimed that adult films “stimulates a preference for depictions of group sex, sadomasochistic practices, and sexual contact with animals,” quotes WebMD.

Louanne Cole Weston, a sex therapist, explains that porn could be addictive if “the person who has difficulty stopping” since “more is only once click away.” But if Pornhub’s data are the basis, it appears the short period that people spend on the site are indicators not all viewers of adult movies are porn addicts but watch the X-rated clips only to rest their brains.