Before the Internet seeped into every aspect of our lives, pornography addiction was just a thing for computer geeks – those who knew how to work technology and how to find places with graphic content.

Now, kids as young as ten are getting their first mobile phones and finding it all too easy to log onto 18+ sites. It wasn't always this way, for the ownership of a mobile phone once denoted a sense of responsibility. It represented a key step in coming of age and granted independence in the sense that the youth could organize their own plans. Now, phones are increasingly used to browse the Internet and it's through this portal that adult content is all too easy to access.

Through exposure at a young age, you or a close acquaintance may have been sucked into one of the fastest growing addictions in our digital age: Internet pornography addiction.

While some wouldn't see themselves as an addict by visiting adult sites on a weekly basis, they're often unaware of just how much long-term effect graphic videos and images have.

So if you're only slowly wising up to the damage that pornography addiction can inflict, why not learn more about its damaging effects?

Dissatisfaction with sex life

Spouses of addicts are often affected as sexual relations do not satisfy the addict as it once might have. Pornography in its current form offers a supercharged version of what sex is all about. In short, anything less than extended intercourse or a female model could force the addict to turn off. The addict's actual sex life is inferior to the world of fantasy in which you get what you want.

This leads to dysfunctional relationships and may even cause break-ups, unless the issue is resolved.

Warped view of opposite gender

Women in pornography are viewed as the lesser gender, as property and something to compete for or to conquer. If a child is brought up to believe this on a diet of Internet pornography, how are they to know anything different? How are they to know that women deserve respect and won't take well to persistent requests for fantasy sex? From this point, the once affected child could think it's a problem with themselves - that an education through online pornography didn't represent true issues. For this reason, they might wake up and attempt to curb the habit.

Time consumption

Aside from all the damage that pornography addiction can have on mental health, have you ever wondered exactly how much time is spent viewing online pornography? Just think of all the things you could achieve after curbing an addiction. People often say they haven't the time to cook a decent meal or fulfill certain duties that simply must wait until the weekend.

The process of getting help with addiction is all about bettering yourself and realizing just what you can do without pornography. Not enough hours in the day? Nonsense.

Lack of confidence

An evident lack of confidence, an empty feeling, inferiority and general uselessness – these are the side effects of pornography. If you begin to think you can only be happy when watching pornography, you will have weaker willpower to resist its call. You could lose your sense of self-control, making yourself weak-willed and powerless to battle an overriding problem.

The key is to find help before the problem really starts to get out of hand. Speak to someone, find professional advice - whatever it takes, it's best to stop sooner than later.