The perils of pornography

The 21st century relies on one stop Internet access for being as fast and streamlined as possible. Paired with cheap all-access devices, 'fast' received a whole new make-over for the users. And with it, came the unfathomable spread of pornography. From browser side-bar text ads for adult dating sites to uncensored lurid images, no Internet user on any device is spared.

The troubles of pornography are now plaguing this corner of the connected world like never before. The addicts are just like every other person going through their daily motions without giving out the slightest signs, at least not on the surface. 

Talking to psychiatrist Dr Md Golam Rabbani - Professor of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and former president of the Bangladesh Association of Psychiatrists - on the matter, he first mentions that 'pornography addiction' is itself a wide, blanketing term. There is no difference in gender, belief or social status in this addiction. It is one of the most entertaining of substances and being such a taboo topic of interest, pulls in the viewer even more. 

Dr Rabanni mentions that this addiction is now starting earlier in children with easy access to any and all sexually explicit material. Furthermore, there seems to be no halt in its progress.

Adverse impact on relationships 

Pornography is a fantasy, its contents are fully sexual and involve real people in it - but in its core it remains a fantasy that is being acted out. What an addict does is rely fully upon this 'make-belief act' for gratification while continuing to remain in reality. When real relationships come up, the addict will always refer to the material already in his or her head as a standard. One such story comes from Sheela, the daughter of a household help. 

Sheela was bothered by the amount of money her husband, a sewing master in a garments factory, spent on his mobile phone. Initially she suspected an affair with another woman, but later on she found out he watched a lot of pornographic videos on his phone. 

He needed a lot of Internet data for it, which he had to buy frequently. The troubles started when the man demanded the wife to perform similar acts as seen in the video. Also, the lack of understanding from the mother too was unnerving, she claimed that her daughter could easily put up with it - as she put it 'after all the man was not gambling, taking drugs or alcohol and not even keeping another woman'.

Affecting work

The porn addict of the modern era can now hide in plain sight, even in the work place. With social networking being a vital agenda for any and all, just about everyone is busy on their smartphones and are not 'fully 100 percent there' in terms of mental presence. Even with open office space design and restricted Internet access, this macro level inattentiveness works as the perfect smokescreen.

Ariful (not his real name) is currently in-charge of the network infrastructure in a spinning mill at Savar and recalls an experience (out of many) from last year. 

In his last job, a senior manager's PC had malfunctioned. Ariful had instructions to recover any and all office files. What he found aside from those were nearly 3000 plus pornographic videos. The manager had hidden them under office folders like any other file. Suddenly all those long after office hours seemed pretty clear as well as the man's inattentiveness during work hours.

Ariful finally found out the reason behind why the office network was constantly being compromised. When confronted, the manager was furious and fully blamed the 'computing hocus-pocus.'

Breaching the point of no return

As motion picture was invented in the 1890s, almost immediately the first pornographic video was made. Similarly, just as the Internet began connecting people worldwide and took to file sharing, pornography too took the fastest sharing route; and it has not stopped since. Just about everyone has seen pornography within their time - it may have been simple curiosity, or by accident or maybe even deliberately. 

For addicts however, the scenario is altogether different as they remain deluded in their perverted fantasies while slipping away from the reality of true relationships and creating a different type of occupational hazard. And confronting these addicts is just as difficult as handling a substance abuse. Furthermore, identifying one is barely possible as there is almost no tell-tale outward sign since everyone is quite up to date with 'incognito' browsing and locking files. 

The most terrifying thing is that even children in kindergarten are accessing it and covering their tracks like the adults. Digitally, life and connectivity maybe faster than ever but the troubles too have increased manifold.

Photo: Collected