Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
According to CNET and BBC News reports, Dr. Philip Zimbardo, a professor who served as president of the American Psychological Association, said that overexposure to online games and pornographic material is causing the brains of young boys to become “digitally rewired”.
Dr. Zimbardo, who is also the author of the book Man (Dis)Connected: How Technology Has Sabotaged What it Means to be Male, and What Can be Done, explained that when young males spend more than five hours per day online, their mental activity changes in such a way that they think about playing games while in class, or viewing porn while spending time with a girl.
Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction (PIED)
The latter, he said, is linked to a fear of rejection in real-life relationships. Dr. Zimbardo also said that those who are most at risk are those who play excessive amounts of video games or watch an overabundance of porn while in social isolation. He claims that the addiction and mental rewiring is the result not just of the time spent in the activities, but in a change of mindset.
For some growing boys, he explained, the psychological excitement provided by the Internet is all they have. Drug use is down, they are drinking less alcohol, and they are less aggressive and violent than in the past, the professor said. Instead of alcohol, these kids are drinking soft drinks and are becoming overweight, obese, and susceptible to diabetes.
In turn, this phenomenon results in decreased libido, and while these youngsters may be getting excited psychologically by online porn, they are not being aroused physiologically – a condition that Dr. Zimbardo refers to as Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction (PIED).
PIED is very much a real phenomenon, Dr. Elizabeth Waterman, a psychologist at Morningside Recovery Center in California, told Men’s Journal. It is the result of “a huge flood of dopamine in the brain” that takes place when a man begins watching pornography, which causes receptors in the brain to become less sensitive over time. She added that, over time, this prevents actual physical intimacy from producing enough dopamine to stimulate those receptors.
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