Ofcom says NI has the highest porn use in the UK…

From the BBC:

Adults in Northern Ireland are more likely to look at pornography online than those in any other part of the UK.

That is according to new research published by the communications regulator Ofcom.

It said that more than 430,000 adults in Northern Ireland visited “pornographic content services” online in May 2024 – more than one third of the adult population.

Overall, according to Ofcom, adults in Northern Ireland spent an average of four hours and 16 minutes a day online, most of it on their smartphones.

Expect to see many titillating headlines and jokes about this one, but there is a dark side to the story. Gone are the days of page 3 and maybe a peek of Playboy magazine if you got lucky; now kids have access to unlimited free hardcore porn from their phones, much of it violent and pretty messed up.

Experts link porn use to a whole bunch of societal ills—increases in sex attacks, violence in relationships, reduction in dating and relationships, increased erectile dysfunction, increases in isolation, anxiety and depression.

The ‘ male sedation theory’ is particularly worrying.

The “male sedation hypothesis” suggests that modern technologies such as video games, social media, and pornography are effectively sedating men, reducing their natural drives for status-seeking and reproduction. This sedation is hypothesized to dampen behaviors that would traditionally be stimulated by these drives, including competitive and potentially disruptive actions. This hypothesis proposes that, while technologies provide men with some elements of satisfaction—such as a sense of accomplishment or virtual social interaction—they do so in a way that might inhibit engagement in the real world, potentially affecting their real-life ambitions and interactions.

If you also view porn use as ‘self-soothing/escapism/pain relief‘, then you can understand its popularity in Northern Ireland. Our mental health is terrible, with massive rates of depression, anxiety, stress, alcoholism, drug abuse etc.

My advice to parents is that all broadband companies have filters you can easily enable to block content on all devices in your home. Filter tools are also built into the iPhone and Android. Cloudflare family DNS is also helpful if your broadband provider does not have the necessary tools built in. Also beware of the use of VPN tools to bypass filters, or the use of sites like Reddit which look innocent enough but also host massive amounts of porn.

My personal view is that the government should mandate that all internet providers have filters enabled by default and that all adult sites be age-gated.

So, while this story will be treated with a Benny Hill nudge and wink, the real-world consequences are that porn can be highly addictive and can mess with people’s heads.

The FT Hotmoney Podcast was a fascinating investigation into the secretive owners of the world’s top porn sites. It’s a great listen.

Brian O'Neill

I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.