UK men worried by heavy online porn use

A quarter of young British men are worried about the amount of porn they watch on the internet, new research suggests.

A poll of men aged 18 to 24 found that heavy porn users were much more likely to report problems with their jobs, relationships and sex lives, the BBC reports.

The poll showed that free porn websites were the most popular way of accessing pornographic material, followed by file-sharing networks, mobile phones, DVDs, magazines and TV.

"Anyone who pays for porn these days needs their head checking because there is so much free porn out there," 22-year-old Ian Barber, 22, reportedly told BBC Radio 1.

One in three light users, who spent less than an hour a week viewing porn, reportedly said they had missed a deadline or appointment as a result.

But that figure rose to four out of five among the 4 percent who were watching more than 10 hours a week — a level described as "problematic and potentially compulsive" by doctors, the survey for the BBC found.

Young men spent an average of more than two hours per week watching pornography online, while young women only spent 15 minutes, the poll found.

Of the 1,057 men questioned for the poll, drawn up by Dr. Heather Wood at the Portman Clinic, almost 80 percent said they watch X-rated content online, compared to just a third of women.

The average male viewer spent more than two hours a week surfing adult sites — but 4 percent trawled through images and videos for 10 hours.

“Those people spending large amounts of time accessing porn are not having more fun,” Wood told BBC Radio 1. “They are more worried about themselves, more worried about what they are looking at, and report more relationship problems.”

Jason Dean, a counselor who runs a website for online sex addicts, told BBC Radio 1 that he used to speak mainly to middle-aged single guys, but that now he gets "more contact from women, teenagers and people in their 20s."