By providing secrecy, fantasy, variety, and 24-hour availability, the Internet has become a haven for sex and love addicts, and for many, has exacerbated their addictive behaviors. With the click of a mouse, anyone with Internet access can act out their sexual compulsions and most hidden desires, whether hiring prostitutes, viewing porn, hooking up with anonymous sex partners, or acting as voyeurs in the sex lives of others.

Renowned sex addiction expert Robert Weiss, LCSW, CSAT, Director of Clinical Programming at Life Healing Center, a residential treatment center for individuals suffering from sexual addiction, emotional trauma, drug and alcohol addiction, and other mental health issues, points to the “three As” of Internet pornography that fuel sexual acting out: accessibility, affordability, and anonymity.

Accessibility

Americans love few things more than accessibility and convenience – as evidence, just look at the fast food industry. If a product is readily available, highly pleasurable, and easy to access, chances are it’s going to be a best-seller – and Internet porn is no exception.

The sheer amount of sexual content available on the Internet is astounding. It is estimated that there are currently 4.2 million pornographic websites online, and 420 million pornographic pages. In addition, people have access to more explicit sexual content than ever, says Weiss. Not only are pornographic images and videos readily available, but people also have easy access to interactive sexual experiences and virtual intimacy in the form of videos, chat rooms, games, Web cams, photo galleries, and more.

According to Weiss, who is the co-author of Cybersex Exposed: Simple Fantasy to Obsession and the recently released Untangling the Web: Sex, Porn and Fantasy Addiction in the Internet Age,the accessibility of sexual material on the Internet feeds the patterns of the sex addict. The emotional high, relief, and distraction provided by each new sexual experience or encounter are temporary and must be repeated with new partners or new outlets time and time again. This is the very definition of addiction.

“While pornographic material isn’t problematic for everyone,” says Weiss, “for those who become preoccupied with viewing porn and other sexual content online, this instant accessibility is troublesome and can make recovery an even more challenging process.”

Affordability

“Back in the day, in order to rent a pornographic video a person would have to drive to the worst part of town, be at least 18 years of age, have money to pay the rental fee, and face the possibility of his friends or neighbors seeing him walk into an adult video store,” notes Weiss. Today, most often at zero expense to the user, people of all ages and backgrounds have access to thousands upon thousands of pages of explicit content.

The affordability of online pornography has made explicit sexual material more accessible to a greater number of users. The concern of many mental health and addiction experts is that these materials, when exploited or used in excess, portray sex without consequences or meaning, as a completely objectified experience rather than one that is integrated within the context of a deeper emotional connection.

Anonymity

The anonymity of the Internet allows people to experiment with and explore fantasies and secret desires they would have been less likely to play out in the past because it was too risky or took too much effort. Today, in the privacy your own home, the Internet provides access to all types of sexual material with less ‘danger’ of being seen or caught in the act.
Most sex addicts seek out anonymous encounters, and the Internet facilitates this. In the obscurity of cyberspace, online users conceal their age, marital status, gender, job title, or appearance, often creating and living out an alternate persona. All too quickly, some Internet users have found themselves devoting more and more time to cybersex, sexual fantasies, and online porn instead of focusing on their families, jobs, relationships, and day-to-day responsibilities.

Cracking Down on Sexual Content on the Internet

Realizing the dangers of sexual material on the Internet, various companies and regulatory bodies are in the process of monitoring and prosecuting illegal activities occurring on the Web.

According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, Craigslist is adopting new, sweeping measures to prevent people from posting classified ads on its website that can facilitate prostitution, human trafficking, child exploitation, and other illegal activities. Working in concert with state law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Craigslist is taking significant measures to ensure its free services aren’t misused to facilitate illegal activities.

Most businesses, now savvy to these concerns, are using Internet filters to block objectionable sexual material on their employees’ computers, and are more closely monitoring Internet use in the workplace. These filters and tracking programs are also often used to help recovering sex and love addicts who otherwise would find it difficult, if not impossible, to “just say no” to their tempting problem.

Getting Help for Sex Addiction

The Internet is one of the greatest technological developments of our time. With instant access to news and world events and easy exchange of information, this medium will likely get more sophisticated and more essential in the years to come. But the Internet has also led a revolution in the delivery of sex and sexual content, creating an entire industry based around cybersex and sadly, online infidelity.

For sex and love addicts and their loved ones who are already suffering from the negative consequences of online sex, simply attempting to block or track online sexual content while working to avoid compromising situations may not be enough. Often, some form of addiction treatment is required to help set limits on their sexual behavior and restore balance to their lives.

At Life Healing Center, the primary goal of sexual addiction treatment is abstinence from the types of problem sexual behaviors that create unwanted consequences and loss. Also integrated into the healing process are the goals of working toward healthy intimacy and sexuality, while clearing away any obstacles formed by past trauma and underlying emotional problems.

The Life Healing Center’s treatment team of sex addiction and trauma experts helps men and women identify triggers, eliminate problem sexual behaviors, and learn healthy coping and intimacy skills through counseling, support groups, and the 12 Step recovery model. At the same time, there is always a focus on the underlying emotional concerns that every addict brings with them to treatment.

Although the accessibility, affordability, and anonymity of the Internet certainly play a role in sex addiction, the causes of the disorder are far more complicated than increased access to explicit material. While the Internet probably isn’t making it any easier for sex addicts to refrain from problematic sexual behaviors, in order to be properly addressed, sex addiction treatment requires comprehensive, multidisciplinary programming in facilities expert and familiar with the challenges of this unique, personal problem.