Grok AI deepfakes were used to target women like X user Evie
Grok AI is being used to create pornographic deepfakes of women, including Feminist X user Evie.
Ryan didn’t open his phone with the intention of finding porn. But the 11-year-old boy spotted it on his social media feed and was intrigued. As he watched, he felt curiosity and excitement rising.
Immediately, his brain was hooked on that dopamine rush. It became a daily routine.
He told himself he could stop if he wanted to, but the habit grew from something he did in the confines of his bedroom to an all-consuming compulsion. His parents installed an internet blocker, but he circumvented it. By the start of sixth grade, he was slipping out of class three times a day to watch porn and masturbate in the bathroom.
Ryan, now 25, says, “Porn is just a mental refuge for me to avoid feelings I didn’t even know I had.” Like others interviewed by USA TODAY for this story, he requested that his last name be withheld due to the sensitive nature of the topic.
Many Gen Z men who grew up with smartphones and unlimited internet access say they encountered pornography early and often. Now, some people are turning to a rapidly growing community of men online who describe themselves as addicts and try to help each other kick these habits. Research shows that men suffer from compulsive porn consumption more than women.
Anthony Preychel, a New York-based sex therapist, says porn’s accessibility, affordability, and anonymity contributed to its early popularity among teens and children.
“Gen Z has probably more unrestricted access to pornography than any other generation,” Preychel said.
Sex “was just a facade for what I thought it could be.”
For years, Ryan told himself he could quit if he wanted to. However, when he was sent on a mission trip as a teenager and was unable to watch porn for nine months, he became depressed and experienced physical symptoms such as chronic fatigue, headaches, and extreme mood swings.
“I was so lethargic, tired and sad all the time,” Ryan says.
Within days of returning home, he was back to using porn. It was the beginning of a period of constant intrusive thoughts at its worst. There were days when I watched porn for more than six hours a day.
When Ryan became sexually active in his early 20s, he thought things would change. But his expectations were distorted by porn, and he suffered from porn-induced erectile dysfunction.
“I knew porn wasn’t real, but I had no idea what[sex]was supposed to be like, because I hadn’t experienced real, actual, intimate, loving sex,” Ryan says. “It was just the surface of what I had imagined.”
How young brains respond to porn
Like alcohol and similar substances, combining porn and masturbation stimulates the brain’s reward system, Preychel says. This activity releases the pleasure-inducing chemical dopamine, which can reinforce the behavior and form a habit loop. Over time, this loop can overwhelm the brain’s reward pathways and permanently change how we process impulse control, pleasure, and motivation.
“It started as a way to deal with trauma and mental health issues,” says Tyler, 22, who struggled with anxiety, depression and sexual abuse as a child. “If I was watching porn…I wouldn’t have thought about that.”
This behavior is especially impactful for young boys whose brains are still developing. A teenager’s executive function, abstract thinking, and decision-making skills continue to form until age 25.
“The prefrontal cortex is not yet developed, so it doesn’t have the ability to control impulses, so dopamine starts rewiring the reward pathway,” says Preychel.
Max, 35, who first discovered porn at the age of 11, says consuming porn at a young age left him struggling to manage his complex emotions as an adult.
“Since I started young, it became a way to self-medicate uncomfortable emotions because that’s what I’ve always done,” Max says.
The porn industry is booming
According to a 2022 report from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization focused on media ratings and digital online safety for children, 71% of teens reported intentionally viewing pornography in the past week.
The average respondent reported watching porn for the first time at age 12.
Brad Saltzman, a licensed clinical social worker and certified sex addiction therapist at the New York Sex Addiction Center, says that when men view pornography at a young age, it can have long-term effects on their perceptions of relationships, sexual intimacy, and women.
“All you have to do is watch porn, and it’s there waiting for you, right? Whatever type of porn you want, whatever you’re interested in, it’s there,” says Salzman. “But now try translating that to the real world. But it doesn’t work. Your girlfriend or wife doesn’t necessarily want to do what you want to do, when you want to do it.”
The porn industry is growing rapidly. Recent analysis values the adult entertainment market at more than $191 billion, with growth expected to reach nearly $275 billion by 2032.
Some parts of the internet even celebrate forced porn use. Entire discussion forums exist aimed at “optimizing” the illegal video viewing experience and discussing specific content. In 2024, Reddit banned a popular subreddit on the subject, although dozens of other subreddits remain active.
Max said that porn’s transition to the Internet coincided with his developmental years as a teenager. What started as looking through my dad’s vintage magazines and printing photos online has grown into something that is available 24/7.
Porn, which was his first introduction to sex, ended up driving a wedge into his relationship.
“I definitely realized that I often sexualize women, objectify them, and see them as more objects for my own pleasure rather than real human beings,” says Max.
This is where men seek help
Although the DSM-5 does not recognize compulsive porn use as a formal disorder, online communities of affected men say it feels like an addiction and people are constantly asking for help. A Reddit forum dedicated to quitting porn currently has more than 1 million members.
Max said talking to other men who had experienced compulsive porn use was the biggest motivation for his journey. More than a dozen Reddit groups dedicated to quitting porn collectively attract more than 500,000 visitors each week.
“I think this is the biggest thing affecting men today. It’s probably a bigger issue than anyone knows,” Max says.
For young men who struggle to find professional help because of the shame, guilt, and embarrassment associated with porn use, these groups provide a first step toward support. Group moderators lead monthly motivational challenges that users can sign up for. To track their accountability, some users list the number of days they have been porn-free in their user profiles.
Users say these groups have helped them gain accountability, restore relationships, and encourage them to seek professional help from a therapist or sex addiction support group.
Salzman says the value of these groups cannot be overstated.
“To know that there are actually other men going through the same thing, that there are men who can empathize with them and not judge them, and to hear from them what strategies have actually worked for them…I think that’s very helpful,” Salzman says.
Ryan, who uses Reddit forums to supplement the anonymous 12-step groups for sex addicts she participates in, says it took exploring these support spaces before she realized she had an abnormal relationship with sex.
“I had this idea in my head that anyone, male or female, would cheat if given the chance, and that everyone thought about sex the same way I did,” Ryan says. “When I listened to other people’s stories, I realized that it was completely different.”
How to get help for compulsive porn use
Ryan said recovery is a long road, but she’s focused on replacing porn with new healthy habits.
He deleted most of his social media and started reading before bed. He followed an intense training regimen. He was also looking for a hobby that would force him to leave home. He bought a membership to an archery club and joined a local Dungeons & Dragons group.
For the past 14 years, Ryan hasn’t known who he is without porn. The sense of isolation behind his addiction and the shame of hiding what he was going through led him to hide his personality from his friends and family.
Those urges are still there, but he feels ready to deal with them and for the first time feels hope that he can get through this.
Now he wants to find out who he is in an era without porn.
“One of the biggest motivations for staying clean is to understand who you really are and be able to be that person in front of everyone,” Ryan says.
Rachel Hale’s role covering youth mental health for USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Contact her at rhale@usatoday.com. @rachleighhale With X.
