648 Crucial Technology Addiction Statistics: 2024 Data on Internet, Video Games & Social Media

A steadily rising global internet speed means better access to all types of content on the world wide web. While technology development portends great things for small businesses, organizations, institutions, and individuals everywhere, it also comes with a caveat of its own: the rising cases of addiction around the internet and the video gaming, empowered mobile phones, and social media that it spawned. More worrying still, casinos along with other forms of gambling and lewd pornographic content have found a new haven in this digital format—and making tons of money along the way. In the case of online porn addiction, the social costs can be immeasurably staggering.

In this article, we will delve deeply into technology addiction statistics. Beyond curiosity, the numbers could inform policy-making, institutional intervention, and improve our handling of these forms of technology in our daily lives.

Internet Addiction Statistics

The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery defines internet addiction as:

Any online-related, compulsive behavior which interferes with normal living and causes severe stress on family, friends, loved ones, and one’s work environment. Internet addiction has been called Internet dependency and Internet compulsivity. By any name, it is a compulsive behavior that completely dominates the addict’s life. Internet addicts make the Internet a priority more important than family, friends, and work. The Internet becomes the organizing principle of addicts’ lives.

Setting the Stage: Essential Internet Statistics Worldwide

The internet serves as the backbone from which all cases of technology addiction statistics spring from. A quick review of the industry itself explains why we need to discuss internet addiction statistics today.

• Steadily improving internet speed is a boon for all types of content, from high-definition video streaming to simple text and graphics. In 2020, the global average mobile and fixed broadband download speeds are 34.82 and 84.33 megabytes per second (Mbps), respectively. On the other hand, the average upload speeds are 10.99 and 44.1 Mbps. (Statista, 2020)
• The global internet services industry is a huge sector. In 2020, the total market value of the global internet services industry is estimated at $450.1 billion. By 2027, it is estimated to reach a revised size of $632.4 billion at a CAGR of 5% over the 2020-2027 period. (Research and Markets, 2020)
• The US accounts for 29.46% ($132.6 billion) of the aforementioned global internet services industry market value. (Research and Markets, 2020)
• China, meanwhile, is forecast to reach an estimated $111.7 billion internet services market value by 2027, for a 4.7% CAGR over the same 2020-2027 period. (Research and Markets, 2020)
• As of January 2021, there are 4.66 billion internet users worldwide. This represents 59.5% of the 7.83 billion total world population. (DataReportal, 2021)
• From January 2020 to January 2021, the world added 316 million new internet users, equivalent to a 7.3% growth rate. (DataReportal, 2021)
• In total, the average internet user currently spends around 7 hours each day using multiple devices. This is equivalent to around 49 hours a week or, put another way, two full days each week. (DataReportal, 2021)
• From Q3 2019 to Q3 2020, daily internet time use increased by 4%. (DataReportal, 2021)
• Since 2001, the number of internet users has shot up by 1,000%. (Recovery Village, 2021)
• As of January 2021, approximately 298.8 million Americans are actively using the internet, 269.5 million of whom are active mobile internet users. (Statista, 2021)

Internet Addiction Diagnostics

• Internet addiction disorder—also known as Compulsive Internet Use (CIU), Problematic Internet Use (PIU) or iDisorder—affects up to 8.2% of the American and European population. (Cash, H., et al, 2012)
• Some reports put the prevalence of CIU higher, at 38% of the general population. (Gregory, C., 2019)
• In the US, internet gaming addiction is now listed in Section 3 of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). (The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, 2021)
• In 2014, the first Internet Congress on Internet Addiction Disorders was held in Milan. The event noted how South Korea led in terms of internet addiction worldwide. (The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, 2021)
• Some studies link internet addiction to physically changing the brain structure, specifically altering the amount of gray and white matter in regions of the prefrontal brain. (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Sexting and online sex addiction are the most common form of internet addiction. The increasing availability of online sexual content spurred a 60% increase in new cases of online addiction from mobile use. (The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, 2021)
• Addictions to video games and online role-playing games are the fastest growing forms of internet addiction, especially in China, Taiwan, and Korea (see Video Gaming Addiction section for more). (The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, 2021)
• Global video gaming addiction rate varies, with various studies indicating a 1-10% global average. The WHO puts the figure at 3-4%. (Game Quitters, acquired 2021)
• Gender influences the types of, and reasons for, internet addiction. Specifically, men tend to seek out dominance and sexual fantasy online, while women seek out close friendships, romantic partners, and opts for anonymous communication to hide their appearance. (The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, 2021)
• Men are likely to become addicted to online games, cyberporn, and online gambling while women tend to become addicted to sexting, social media, and online shopping. (The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, 2021)
• Applying what is called Variable Ratio Reinforcement Schedule (VRRS) theory, the reason people are so addicted to internet activity—gaming, gambling, shopping, pornography, for example—is its use of multiple layers of rewards. (Gregory, C., 2019)

Physical Symptoms of Internet Addiction Disorder

• Poor personal hygiene (e.g., not bathing to stay online) (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Poor nutrition (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Neck pain (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Dry eyes and other vision problems (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Weight gain or loss (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Insomnia (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Headaches (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Backache (Psycom.net, 2019)

Mental or Behavioral Symptoms of Internet Addiction Disorder

• Feelings of euphoria when using the internet (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Boredom with routine tasks (Psycom.net, 2019)
• No sense of time (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Inability to prioritize or keep schedules (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Mood swings (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Fear (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Loneliness (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Depression (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Feelings of guilt (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Dishonesty (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Anxiety (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Isolation (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Agitation (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Procrastination (Gregory, C., 2019)

Understanding Internet Addiction

• The internet provides a host of content from which can arise potentially addictive activities like video gaming, social media engagement, gambling, shopping, and pornography viewing. (Recovery Village, 2021)
• Internet addiction is best understood by comparing it to other types of addictions. Addicts, for example, consume drugs in order to feel normal. In Internet addiction, a parallel situation exists: the internet provides the “high” and addicts increasingly depend on cyberspace high to feel normal. (The Center for Internet Addiction, 2021)
• The most common assessment tools to diagnose for internet addiction disorder are Young’s Internet Addiction Test, the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ), and the Compulsive Internet Use Scale. (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Video games and online role-playing games are the fastest growing forms of internet addiction. (The Center for Internet Addiction, 2021)
• Over 70% of internet addicts also suffered from other addictions. These include, among others, drugs, alcohol, smoking, and sex. (The Center for Internet Addiction, 2021)
• Moreover, an estimated 75% of internet addicts suffer from relationship problems. (The Center for Internet Addiction, 2021)

The most common psychological treatments of internet addiction disorder include:

• Art Therapy (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Behavior modification (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Equine Therapy (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Individual, group, or family therapy (Psycom.net, 2019)
• Recreation Therapy (Gregory, C., 2019)
• Reality Therapy (Gregory, C., 2019)

Video Gaming Addiction Statistics

To its credit, video games have been scientifically shown to lead to increased eye-hand coordination, enhanced manual dexterity, improved spatial visualization, and the ability to divide and rapidly switch attention. The success of video games, however, also comes with a price: child technology statistics and teenage technology addiction statistics reveal that it is likely to be the source of problematic use of technology among children and teens. Here are the most relevant video gaming addiction statistics.

• Global video gaming profile: of the estimated 7.87 billion global population in 2021, 2.81 billion (35%) are active video gamers. (Statista, 2020)
• Global video gaming is a huge industry, accounting for a $159.3 billion market value in 2020. (Statista, 2020)
• Worldwide in 2020, the average gamer spends $60 on games and peripherals. (Statista May 2020, Statista June 2020)
• On average, video gamers spend 6 hours and 20 minutes each week playing video games. (Limelight Networks 2020)
• “Problem gamers” play video games between 80 to 100 hours per week. (HealthyPlace, 2021)
• It’s common for a video game addict to spend over 10 hours a day gaming, usually well into the night, even at the cost of sleep deprivation. (Game Quitters, acquired 2021)

Meanwhile, a notable six-year research study (the longest study ever done on video game addiction) on video gaming addiction found that:

• 90% of gamers do not play in a way that is harmful or causes long-term negative consequences. (ScienceDaily, 2020)

The same study noted the following three distinct trajectories of video game use over the six-year period:

• 72% of adolescents were relatively low in addiction;
• 18% started with moderate symptoms that did not change over time; and that
• 10% of adolescents showed increasing levels of pathological gaming symptoms. (ScienceDaily, 2020)

Accounting for the effect of the coronavirus pandemic, RENTCafé noted the following results:

• weekly time spent playing video games increased to 8 hours and 30 minutes, up 60% from 5 hours and 20 minutes before the pandemic. (RENTCafé, 2020)
• Global video gaming addiction rate varies, with various studies indicating a 1-10% global average. The WHO puts the figure at 3-4%. (Game Quitters, acquired 2021)
• In the Netherlands, the percentage of young people reporting problems with gaming rose from a third before the coronavirus pandemic to around 50% by November 2020. (Wired, 2020)

Global Video Addiction by Gender

• The gender breakdown of a gamer is as follows: 50% male, 48% female. (Game Quitters 2020)
• Global video game addiction by gender: 94% males vs. 6% female. (Recovery Village, 2020)

Global Video Addiction by Age Group

• The average age of video gamers is 35 years old. (Game Sparks, 2020)
• The average age of a gaming addict is 24 years old. (Game Quitters 2020)
• Young adult males from 18 to 24 years old are most at risk of video game addiction (HealthyGamer, 2020)
• Video gaming addiction benchmark: according to various studies, the safe limits for teens is 1-2 hours daily, with 5 hours the maximum limit. (HealthyPlace, 2021)
• Worldwide, 8.4% of children and teenagers are addicted to gaming, of which 11-12% are boys and 6-7% are girls. (HealthyGamer, 2020)

Global Video Gaming Addiction by Ethnicity

• Global ethnicity breakdown of a gaming addict: 69% Caucasian, 13% Asian, and 18% other. (Game Quitters 2020)
• US ethnicity breakdown of a gaming addict: 67% Caucasian, 15% Hispanic, 12% African, 5% Asian, and 3% other. (Game Quitters 2020)

Video Game Addiction in China

• In China, a study has revealed a 17% prevalence of internet gaming disorder (IGD) among adolescent participants. IGD was more evident among males, who are closely associated with high comorbidity of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), high levels of novelty seeking, and high levels of impulsivity. (Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2020).
  Other findings reveal that:
  • roughly four in five Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) players were males
  • many games on the market are invented by males for males
  • gaming companies strategically target boys and men to increase their sales.

State of Video Game Addiction in Korea

In South Korea, a study on IGD has revealed that:

• 5.9% (boys 10.4%, girls 1.2%) had a gaming disorder (ADDICTA, 2020)
• 8% (boys 14.2%, girls 5.9%) were at high risk of gaming disorder. (ADDICTA, 2020)
• a total of 9.2%, 15.1%, and 10.9% had non-psychotic psychological anxiety, depression, and impulsiveness symptoms, respectively. (ADDICTA, 2020)
• nearly 11% of students with IGD had 2 or more non-psychotic psychological symptoms. (ADDICTA, 2020)

Still, in South Korea, IDG incidence in the country could be attributed to the following factors:

• strong gaming culture; in particular, the country is the center of global eSports events that attract the biggest names in gaming worldwide, with winners taking millions of dollar in prize money aside from lucrative sponsorship deals. (Statista, 2020)
• the massive popularity of PC Bangs—public computer rooms—with 30% of South Korean gamers saying they visited PC Bangs. (Statista, 2020)
• South Korean PC Bangs earned an estimated $1.55 billion in revenue in 2020 and stands to earn $2 billion in 2022. (Statista, 2020)
• Lee Sang Hyeok is currently the leading South Korean eSports player, having earned $1.2 million from League of Legends tournaments. The figure could easily go higher if sponsorships and salary are factored in. (Statista, 2020)
• Among South Korean gamers, 64% are into PC gaming while 90% are into mobile gaming. (Statista, 2020)
• More than 600,000 Korean children struggle with gaming disorder, prompting the government to declare it a public health crisis. (HealthyGamer, 2020)

Video Gaming Notable Deaths Timeline

• On December 27, 2004, Chinese 13-year-old and top student Zhang Xiaoyi jumped to his death from the top of the 24-story building where he lived—after playing World of Warcraft for 36 hours straight. His suicide note said he wanted to join the heroes of World of Warcraft. (China Daily, 2006)
• In June 2005, a South Korean couple was arrested when their 4-month-old daughter died after they left her alone for hours to play World of Warcraft in an internet cafe. (Gamespot, 2005)
• On August 3, 2005, South Korean Lee Seung Seop collapsed and died inside a PC Bang after playing Starcraft for a full 50 hours nonstop. Initially, there was confusion about which game he was playing. Investigation revealed Warcraft was one of his favorite games but it was Starcraft he was playing when he died. (Starcraft Wiki, accessed 2021)
• In 2006,  American Tyrone Spellman, aka Anwar Salahuddin, of Philadelphia, killed his 17-month-old daughter after she knocked over his Xbox console. (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2008)
• In September 2007, American 16-year-old Daniel Petric shot his mother to death and wounded his father after they took away his Halo 3 video game. (The Plain Dealer, 2008)
• In September 2009, a South Korean couple’s 3-month-old daughter starved to death while they spent 12 hours straight playing Online Prius in order to raise a virtual child. (CNN, 2010)
• On January 19, 2010, American 22-year-old Alexandra Tobias murdered her 3-month-old son whose crying kept interrupting her while playing Farmville. Tobias, who was diagnosed as bipolar before the event, killed her child using her bare hands. (Jacksonville.com, 2011)
• On February 1, 2012, Taiwanese 23-year-old Chen Jung-yu (other sources put it as Rong-yu) died in an internet cafe after playing 10 straight hours out of the 23 hours he already paid for. (Taipei Times, 2012)
• On July 13, 2012, Taiwanese 19-year-old Chuang Cheng Feng collapsed to his death after playing Diablo 3 for 10 hours straight. (Eurogamer, 2012)
• In May 2013, the American Psychiatric Association included “internet gaming disorder” (IGD) as a psychological condition that warrants further research in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). (APA, accessed March 15, 2021)
• On January 8, 2015, a Taiwanese 32-year-old man identified only with the surname Hsieh died in an internet cafe after a marathon 3-day gaming binge. (Time, 2015)
• On February 19, 2017, Twitch streamer Brian Vigneault, aka Poshybrid, died during a 24-hour World of Tanks marathon for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (PC Gamer, 2017)

Mobile Phone Addiction Statistics

In modern societies, there is nothing more pervasive and ubiquitous than the sight of mobile phones. Old and young, men and women hold on to them as if they were a natural extension of their bodies. The merest alert notification prompts everyone to reach for them as instantly as possible. The internet highways, entertainment, the latest gossip, information, video games, and whatever else are a grasp away for any mobile phone user. Truly more than what Edison could have conceived of the possibilities of telephones, mobile phones have also opened up unimaginable possibilities. Unfortunately, one of these turned out to be mobile phone addiction. The following mobile phone addiction statistics reveal how prevalent this phenomenon is today.

Setting the Stage: Mobile Phone Industry, Global Users Profile

• 5.22 billion (66.6%) out of the 7.83 billion total world population are unique mobile phone users. (DataReportal, 2021)
• Unique mobile phone users have grown by 1.8% (93 million) since January 2020. (DataReportal, 2021)
• During the same period, the total number of mobile connections has increased by 0.9% (72 million), reaching a total of 8.02 billion at the start of 2021. (DataReportal, 2021)
• 4.66 billion (59.5%) of the global population are internet users. (DataReportal, 2021)
• This is up 7.3% (316 million) over the past 12 months.
• 4.20 billion (53.6%) of the global population are active social media users. (DataReportal, 2021)
• This is up 13% (490 million) since the same period in 2020. (DataReportal, 2021)
• 95% of teens have access to mobile phones. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• A total of 1.5 billion mobile phones are estimated to be sold by 2021, up by 110 million (8%) from 2020. (Statista, 2021)
• In 2020, the global revenue from smartphone sales is estimated at $409.1 billion, down 21.6% from 2018 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Statista, 2020)

Nomophobia is the official term for mobile phone addiction. Merriam Webster simply defines it as the fear of being without access to a working cell phone. Nomophobia is rooted in the theory of the extended self, where possessions become central to the sense of self.

• Phubbing – the practice of snubbing others in favor of mobile phones. It is a possible symptom of nomophobia. (Imago Central, 2020)
• An addiction expert has likened the use of smartphones to taking cocaine: likes on social media platforms can trigger the release of dopamine. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Other factors are at play, like the fact that since the start of the mobile device era circa 2000, human attention spans have decreased from 12 to 8 seconds. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Smartphone use and depression are correlated. (Halcyon, 2021)
• Teenagers who spend 5 hours a day on electronic devices are 71% more likely to have suicide risk factors than those with 1-hour use. (Halcyon, 2021)
• Teens with smartphone addictions are more likely to drink alcohol, use tobacco, and have poor diets. (Halcyon, 2021)

Extent of Mobile Phone Addiction

• 84% – share of global population who couldn’t go a single day without their mobile phones (Parasumaran, S., Sam, A. T., Yee, S. W., Chuon, B. L., & Ren, L. Y., 2017)
• 50% – teens who feel they are addicted to their mobile phones (Parasumaran, S., et al., 2017)
• 27% – parents who feel they are addicted to their mobile phones (Parasumaran, S., et al., 2017)
• 24.8-27.8% – addiction rate among students (Parasumaran, S., et al., 2017)

Symptoms of Mobile Phone Addiction

• Experiencing phantom vibration syndrome, where people think that their phone is vibrating or ringing when it’s really not. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Experiencing the urge to use the phone when they should not. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Regularly relying on the phone to kill boredom. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Experiencing anxiety or irritability when away from mobile phones. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Extended use of mobile phones negatively impacts work or relationships. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Other people pointing out how you spend too much time on your mobile phone. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Experiencing difficulty cutting down on your mobile phone use. (DailyWireless, 2020)

Mobile phone addiction has been linked to the following physical afflictions (DailyWireless, 2020):

• carpal tunnel syndrome
• lack of or poor sleep
• eye problems
• cancer risks
• bad posture

Career implications of mobile phone addiction

• A pioneering study reported a strong correlation between smartphone accessibility and decreased productivity. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• In the US, more than 33% of white-collar Americans watch TV shows or sporting events during their workday. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• 36% of Millennials and Gen Zers admit to using their mobile phones for personal activities for more than 2 hours during work hours. (DailyWireless, 2020)

A landmark survey showed that of the 83% of US workers had mobile phones at the workplace (HR Daily Advisor, 2017):

• 82% kept their phones nearby while working.
• 65% were reading or sending personal messages.
• 51% of the respondents were checking the weather.
• 44% were catching up on news.
• 24% of the respondent workers were shopping.
• Finally, 3% were using their mobile phones for dating.

How People Interact with Their Mobile Phones

• On average, people spend 4 hours and 10 minutes using mobile devices. (DataReportal, 2021)
• 44% of the time that people are using their mobile phones is spent on social media and communication apps. (DataReportal, 2021)
• Meanwhile, the share of mobile time spent on video and entertainment apps stands at 26%. (DataReportal, 2021)
• 9% of the time that people are using their mobile phones is spent playing video games. (DataReportal, 2021)
• Finally, 21% of mobile phone time is used by people using other kinds of apps. (DataReportal, 2021)
• The average internet user spends 7 hours per day, equivalent to around 49 hours per week, close to 2 full days each week. (DataReportal, 2021)
• We now spend around 42% of our waking lives online, the same time we spend sleeping. (DataReportal, 2021)
• Applying these rates to 2021 will have internet users spending 12 trillion hours online this year, equivalent to 1.3 billion years of combined human time. (DataReportal, 2021)
• 90% of internet users access the internet via their mobile phones. (DataReportal, 2021)
• Mobile phone users spend 92% of the time using mobile applications. (DataReportal, 2021)
• Year-on-year, the increase in daily time spent using mobile devices is at 20%. (DataReportal, 2021)
• People are not only using their mobile devices more: they’re also spending 25% more in 2020 compared to 2019, at $50 billion in the first half of the year alone. (Forbes, 2020)
• 25% of young people are dealing with problematic mobile phone usage. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Mobile phone addiction is more common in users who are less emotionally stable. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Problematic mobile phone use is linked to lower self-esteem. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• More than 20% of teen drivers involved in car accidents were distracted by mobile phone use. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• 25% of adults wake up at least once during the night to check their mobile phones. More than 33% of teens do the same. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• 39% of children wish that their parents would spend less time on their mobile phones. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• Among these same children, 38% think that their parents have a mobile phone addiction. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• 62% of parents and 64% of teens use their mobile phones within 30 minutes of waking up. (DailyWireless, 2020)
• On average, people check their phones 58x to 63x a day. (Kommando Tech 2020, BankMyCell, 2020)
• Smartphone users typically check their phones every 12 minutes from when they wake up until they go to sleep. Young people under 21 years old do it more often, at every 8.6 minutes. (DIY Genius, 2020)
• 86% of mobile phone users will check their phones while speaking with family and friends. (BankMyCell, 2020)
• 40% of adults look at their mobile phones within 5 minutes of waking up, reaching 65% for people under 35 years old. (DIY Genius, 2020)
• Just before switching off the lights for bed, 37% of adults check their mobile phones, with those under 35 years old doing it 60%. (DIY Genius, 2020)
• 87% of mobile phone users check their phones 1 hour before sleep. (BankMyCell, 2020)
• Meanwhile, 69% would check their mobile phones 5 minutes after waking up. (BankMyCell, 2020)
• 58% of mobile phone users tried to limit their phone usage. (BankMyCell, 2020)
• Of these, 41% succeeded. (BankMyCell, 2020)
• The average mobile phone user will tap, swipe, and click their phones 2,617 times per day. (DIY Genius, 2020)
• Meanwhile, the top 10% will do the same 5,427 times a day. (DIY Genius, 2020)

Americans and Their Mobile Phones

• 75.4% consider themselves addicted to their mobile phones. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• 60.6% have upgraded their mobile phones in the last year. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• 73.4% use their mobile phones in the toilet. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• Around 65.7% of people sleep with their mobile phones at night. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• Americans check their phones 65.6% a day. (Smallbiztrends 2020)
• 87.8% feel uneasy leaving their mobile phones at home. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• 55.4% use or look at their mobile phones while driving. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• Mobile phone use reduces a driver’s attention by as much as 37%. (The Zebra, 2021)
• 14% of fatal crashes involve mobile phone use. (The Zebra, 2021)
• Persistent mobile phone use while driving causes 1.6 million crashes every year. (The Zebra, 2021)
• More than 3,000 teens die each year in crashes that involve texting and driving. (The Zebra, 2021)
• Drivers who text while driving are 23x more likely to become involved in a car accident. (The Zebra, 2021)
• The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) notes that more than 80% of the 220 million subscribers of wireless services use their mobile phones while driving. (NCSL, 2020)
• 64.2% have texted someone who’s in the same room as them. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• 57.4% use their mobile phones on dates. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• 79.5% use their mobile phones as alarm clocks. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• 45.0% would rather give up sex for a year than give up their phones. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• 32.7% spend more time on their mobile phones than with their significant others. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• 34% admitted to answering their mobile phones during intimacy with their partners. (Imago Central, 2020)
• 20% of people between ages 18 and 34 have used their smartphones during sex. (Halcyon, 2021)
• Around 78% of women spend more time on their mobile phones than with their partners. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 80% of women check their phones first before greeting their partners in the morning. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 17% of women admit to interrupting intimacy to check their phones. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• Meanwhile, 93% of men say they can do away with their mobile phones while enjoying intimacy with their partners. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 71% of survey respondents said they spend more of their personal or non-work time with their mobile phones than their partners. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 46% said they spend 5-6 hours on their mobile phones on their personal time. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 52% spend 3-4 hours more on their mobile phones daily than their romantic partners. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 54% admitted they would rather spend on their mobile phones than in the company of their partners. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 25% of people copped to playing with their phones when dining together. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 28% of men and 22% of women said their mobile phones had caused arguments. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• “No phone zones” have been suggested as a way to minimize the overuse of mobile phones, but 82% of homes do not have them, with more women  (22%) saying so than men. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 72% of men would not let their partners use their mobile phones. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• Overall, 66% of respondents would not trust their partners to use their mobile phones, despite 63% knowing their partners’ passcodes to unlock their phones. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 40% of people in committed relationships said they had caught their partners snooping on their mobile phones. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 21% of people admit they turn their smartphones face down to hide their phone activities; 27% of men do the same to hide their activities. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• 36% of people admitted that their use of mobile phones has had a negative impact on their relationships. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• In the same vein, 36% of respondents said that using their mobile phones less would make their partners happier. (The Rolebuild, 2021)
• More than 50% of adults never switch off their mobile phones. (Imago Central, 2020)
• 17.3% spend more time on their mobile phones than with their children. (Reviews.org, 2020)
• More people have smartphones than toilets worldwide. (Halcyon, 2021)
• The financial burden of mobile phone gaming apps: gambling and in-app purchases have caused inordinate spending problems among users suffering from mobile phone addiction. (DailyWireless, 2020)

Social Media Addiction Statistics

Used in moderation, social media is one of the most beneficent virtues of internet technology. Pushed too far to the point of social media addiction, it poses both individual and societal threats. The proliferation of disinformation campaigns, fake news, and conspiracy theories backed by subversive social forces are but some of the more recent reminders of these threats, disrupting social processes and threatening the lives of people all over the world. Learn more from the social media addiction statistics below.

Setting the stage: social media industry, global users profile

• Social media industry market size: $94.83 billion in 2020, estimated to reach $102.62 billion in 2021 for a CAGR of 8.2%. (The Business Research Company, 2020)
• Active global social media users: 4.20 billion. This represents 53.6% of the global 7.83 billion population. (DataReportal, 2021)
• The number of social media users has grown by 490 million from the previous year, equivalent to 13.2%. (DataReportal, 2021)
• The total number of social media users accessing via mobile phones is 4.15 billion (98.8%). (DataReportal, 2021)
• By gender, 54.4% of social media users are female while 45.6% are male. (DataReportal, 2021)
• Among Facebook users, 56% are male while 44% are female. (DataReportal, 2021)
• In terms of the number of users, Facebook has the most number of active users at 2.74 billion, followed by WhatsApp (2 billion users) and Facebook Messenger (1.3 billion). (DataReportal, 2021)
• The leading social media in terms of monthly average time spent per user is Facebook at 19.5 hours followed by WhatsApp at 19.4 hours. (DataReportal, 2021)
• 63% of the American population over the age of 12 use Facebook. (Edison Research, 2020)
• As of October 2020, 79.9% of Facebook users accessed the social network only through a mobile phone. (DataReportal, 2020)
• Global social media users spend an average of 2 hours and 25 minutes on their choices of platforms. (DataReportal, 2021)
• In 2021, all global social media users will spend a total of 3.7 trillion hours on social media. This is equivalent to 420 million years of combined human existence. (DataReportal, 2021)

Social media addiction is a behavioral disorder manifested by compulsive and excessive use of social media.  According to the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, digital experiences—especially rising social media use—are found to significantly impact the mental health and well-being of adolescents. In particular, the following developments are noted:

• Suicide rates are rising among individuals aged 10 to 24 years. (Healio, 2020)
• Among those aged 10-14 years, suicide rates have tripled. (Healio, 2020)
• Suicide rates are significantly higher among African American children younger than 13 years. (Healio, 2020)
• Beyond the 2-hour mark of social media usage, kids start to have more mental health problems, including distress and suicidal ideation. (Healio, 2020)
• Social media use among teens is linked to low self-esteem, poor body image, and risk-taking behaviors. (Healio, 2020)
• Around 27% of children who spend 3 or more hours a day on social media exhibit symptoms of poor mental health. (Addiction Center, 2020)
• In the US, psychologists estimate that around 5-10% of the population meet the criteria for social media addiction. (Addiction Center, 2020)
• Due to its effect on the brain, social media is addictive both physically and psychologically.
• In the US, 68% of the population has an account and of those, 74% report checking the app at least once a day while 51% do it several times a day. (Mediakix, 2021)

A study of suicidal teens revealed the following (Healio, 2020):

• 67% of participants felt worse about their own lives because of social media.
• 73% felt pressured to post content that boosted their appearance to others.
• 60% were feeling pressured to tailor content for popularity and likes.
• 80% reported being affected by social media drama.
• Social media risks identified during the study included heavy and problematic use; sleeping interference; exposure to self-harm or suicidal content; inauthenticity or being untrue to oneself; negative upward social comparison; and thwarted belongingness or unmet need to connect to others.
• According to Addiction Center, addictive social media use manifests the same symptoms seen in any other substance use disorder, including: mood modification, salience (behavioral, cognitive, and emotional preoccupation with social media), tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict (interpersonal problems arise because of social media usage), and relapse. (Addiction Center, 2020).
• Additionally, Addiction Center states that social media addiction can be attributed to the dopamine-inducing social environments that social networking channels provide. (Addiction Center, 2020).
• Finally, self-disclosure on social media lights up the same part of the brain that also ignites when taking an addictive substance. (Addiction Center, 2020).

Online Gambling Addiction Statistics

Legal online gambling is mostly not problematic, especially in moderation. However, some people who develop an online gambling addiction can often see their personal, family, and social lives adversely affected. These online gambling addiction statistics show how this is so.

Setting the Stage: Online Gambling Industry, Global Users Profile

• The online gambling industry is huge and lucrative, reaching an estimated market value of $66.7 billion in 2020 and growing to $92.9 billion in 2027. (Statista, 2020)
• From 2020 to 2027, the online gaming industry is poised to grow at a CAGR of 11.5%. (Grand View Research, 2020)
• For its part, HR Gambling Capital put the online gambling market size at $61.5 billion in 2019 and estimated it to grow to $89.3 billion in 2024 for a CAGR of 7.7% over the period 2019 to 2024. (HR Gambling in 888 Holdings Online Gaming Report, 2019)
• Sports betting is the largest online gambling sector at 33.1 billion in 2019 or $50.2 billion estimated value in 2024, followed by casinos ($15.3 billion/$20.3 billion), poker ($2.7 billion/$2.9 billion), and bingo ($2.0 billion/$2.2 billion). (HR Gambling in 888 Holdings Online Gaming Report, 2019)
• Around 26% of the world population gamble. Worldwide, that is equivalent to around 2.03 billion people who gamble fairly regularly. In addition, around 5.3 billion people (67.6%) worldwide gamble at least once a year. (Casino.org, 2021)
• In the UK, 17% of the population gamble online, generating £5.3 billion revenue for the online market alone. (Casino.org, 2021)
• Online gambling surged to 20% of US gambling revenue in 2020. (Betting USA, 2020)
• Online gaming picked up the slack of the gambling industry during the start of the pandemic in 2020, declining only 7% compared to 39% for retail gambling. (Betting USA, 2020)
• Biological, genetic, and environmental factors contribute to online gambling addiction. (Verywell Mind, n.d.)

Based on the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 that classifies psychiatric disorders, pathological online gambling addiction occurs when the following conditions are observed:

• Feeling the need to be secretive about gambling. (Verywell Mind, n.d.)
• Excessive preoccupation with gambling, including:
  • reliving past gambling experiences
  • planning of next gambling session
  • devising ways to acquire the money to gamble (Carrier Clinic, 2019)
• Trying to control, cut back, or stop gambling without success. (Mayo Clinic, n.d.)
• Feeling a high or thrill from making big bets. (Verywell Mind, n.d.)
• Gambling to escape problems or relieve feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety or depression. (Mayo Clinic, n.d.)
• Resorting to gambling to escape life challenges. (Verywell Mind, n.d.)
• Justifying gambling as an attempt to recover previously lost money, aka “chasing losses.” (Carrier Clinic, 2019)
• Having family and friends who worry about the person’s gambling. (Verywell Mind, n.d.)
• Persistent need to spend increasing amounts of money to achieve the desired level of excitement. (Carrier Clinic, 2019)
• Gambling even when money is scarce and debts are accumulating. (Verywell Mind, n.d.)
• Irritable behavior when not gambling. (LoveToKnow, n.d.)
• Persisting in gambling despite continued losses. (Verywell Mind, n.d.)
• Lying to family members or others to hide the extent of gambling. (Mayo Clinic, n.d.))
• Having another behavior or mood disorder. (Verywell Mind, n.d.)
• Jeopardizing important relationships, a job, school, or work opportunities due to gambling. (Mayo Clinic, n.d.)
• Relying on others for money to get out of a difficult financial situation due to gambling. (Carrier Clinic, 2019)
• Chasing losses. (LoveToKnow, n.d.)
• Stealing to fund the habit. (LoveToKnow, n.d.)

US Online Gambling

• In the US, around 80% or so of US adults—or about 198,000,000 people—actively gamble. (Legal Sports Betting, 2021)
• 0.2 to 12.3% – experience problem gambling. (Kryszajtys, D. T., & Matheson, F. I., 2017)
• 10 to 15% – experience at-risk gambling. (Kryszajtys, D. T., & Matheson, F. I., 2017)
• Online gambling is legal for either age 18 or 21 depending on the state. (Gambling.com, n.d.)
• The potential for online sports betting in the US could be worth $23 billion. (Reuters, 2020)
• Much of the online gambling in the US are concentrated in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. (Reuters, 2020)
• It is estimated that approximately 10 million Americans gamble in online casinos on a regular basis. (The Island Now, 2020)
• New Jersey’s sports wagers, for example, totaled $4.1 billion through October 2020, with virtual gambling accounting for more than 90%. (Reuters, 2020)
• Seeing the easing of US rules on online gambling, Dublin-based Flutter Entertainment committed $4.2 billion to increase its stake in the country. (Reuters, 2020)
• Flutter Entertainment is not alone: FanDuel, Fox, MGM Resorts International, and Caesars Entertainment have followed suit, offering online sports betting since the third quarter of 2020. (Reuters, 2020)
• 25 states and Washington, DC have legalized sports betting, with 21 legal markets operational. (American Gaming Association, 2021)
• 13 states have active legislation to legalize sports betting. (American Gaming Association, 2021)
• More than $21 billion was wagered on sports in 2020, up from $13 billion in 2019, generating more than $210 million in state and local taxes. (American Gaming Association, 2021)
• 71% of Americans said that gambling is morally acceptable, while 27% said that it is morally wrong. (Casino.org, 2020)

US Online Gambling during the Super Bowl LV and the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In the midst of the pandemic, 23.2 million Americans bet a total of $4.3 billion on the 2021 edition of the Super Bowl LV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (American Gaming Association, 2021)
• Despite widespread job losses, 43% of bettors were estimated to have wagered $100. (Schultz, M., & Sherrier, J. , 2021)
• 51% were estimated to make some type of Super Bowl-related bet. (Schultz, M., & Sherrier, J. , 2021)
• Among Super Bowl bettors, a record 7.6 million will bet with online sportsbooks this year, up 63% YoY. (American Gaming Association, 2021)
• 67% of Millennials, 62% of Generation Z, and just 26% of Baby Boomers were estimated to have made a bet. (Schultz, M., & Sherrier, J., 2021)
• 36 million more American adults gained the chance to bet in legal markets with 7 new jurisdictions added: Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington, DC. (American Gaming Association, 2021)
• Mobile wagering accounted for 82% of legal sports wagers nationwide during the pandemic. (American Gaming Association, 2021)
• 34% said they’d spent less on the Super Bowl this year, while 21% said they’d spent more. The average amount of bet was $108. (Schultz, M., & Sherrier, J., 2021)

Online Gambling in the United Kingdom

• Over the past 15 years, technological innovations and new freedoms for the gambling industry have created a perfect storm that left young people particularly vulnerable. (The Guardian, 2020)
• As of 2019, there were 55,000 problem gamblers from the 11-16 age group in England, Scotland, and Wales. (Ipsos Gambling Commission Report, 2019)
• In the same period, 450,000 gambled regularly. (Ipsos Gambling Commission Report, 2019)
• In the same 11-16 age group, gambling is more popular than smoking or taking drugs: 11% reported gambling every week, compared to only 6% who smoke tobacco and 5% who take drugs. (The Guardian, 2020)
• The gambling industry currently spends £1.5bn a year on marketing. (The Guardian, 2020)
• More than 50% of the teams in the Premier League carry betting firm logos on their shirts, further normalizing online gambling and making it ubiquitous. (The Guardian, 2020)
• In response to these findings, the first NHS Young People’s National Problem Gambling Clinic was established in London in December 2019. (The Guardian, 2020)

Online Gambling: (Not) Everyone’s a Winner

• To understand the online gambler’s—or any gambler for that matter—chance of winning, you have to calculate the cost of play that factors in house advantage, the number of times you bet per minute, the amount of your individual bets, and the total amount you wager per hour. (Get Gambling Facts, 2021)
• Some online gamblers have won around 30% of the games they played. (Nz Potters, 2020)
• The chances of winning decrease to 11% in the next online gambling bet. (Nz Potters, 2020)
• Around 95% of the 10% heavy online gamblers end up losing their bets, making them incur the biggest losses in the long run. (Nz Potters, 2020)
• The ratio of winners to big losers in the heavy online gamblers stands at around 1:128. (Nz Potters, 2020)
• In online casinos, the key to understand is the Return To Player. Technically it is the average percentage that the casino returns to each player. Essentially, it’s the online casinos’ version of the house edge. (The Island Now, 2020)
• RTP is transparent among online casinos—you can Google the RTP and it’s often available directly from the software developers. (The Island Now, 2020)
• The Mega Joker, a very popular online slot, has an RTP of 99%—meaning the house edge is just 1%. The number is the same no matter which online casino you play on. (The Island Now, 2020)
• 60% of young people feel well informed about the risks of gambling. (Ipsos, 2019)
• 59% of the young agree that gambling is dangerous. (Gambling Commission, 2019)

How Online Gambling Worsens Addiction

Online gambling exacerbates addiction due to the following factors:

• Online gambling sites are accessible 24/7. (Carrier Clinic, 2019)
• Online gamblers are notorious for hiding gambling addiction symptoms, claiming they’re just entertaining or amusing themselves. (GamblingSites.org, 2019)
• Online gamblers can hide their activities, unlike traditional gamblers whose extended presence at casinos or racetracks is likely to be noticed and flagged. (Carrier Clinic, 2019)
• Lack of government oversight. (NetAddiction, n.d.)
• Online gamblers can quickly access funds online. (Carrier Clinic, 2019)
• Just about any traditional form of gambling, even cockfighting, can be conducted online. (NetAddiction, n.d.)
• Online gamblers can place bets while consuming alcohol or drugs, fueling more time and money spent gambling—and increases impulse betting and “chasing losses.” (Carrier Clinic, 2019)
• The increased risk and exposure to children. (NetAddiction, n.d.)
• Online gamblers can easily overextend spending, using credit cards as other resources run out. (Carrier Clinic, 2019)
• The absorption of computers, leading people to lose track of time while gambling online. (NetAddiction, n.d.)
• Many online gambling sites are not properly regulated with operators difficult to trace, making it hard to press legal actions against them. (Carrier Clinic, 2019)

Online Gambling Addiction in Numbers

• In a study involving 4,120 individuals, 10.4% were found to be problem gamblers and 89.2% were not. (Grinols, E. L., & Mustard, 2016)
• Problem gamblers engage in Class III gambling more heavily than non-problem groups. (Grinols, E. L., & Mustard, 2016)
• $1,560 – annual medial losses of problem gamblers. (Grinols, E. L., & Mustard, 2016)
• $192 – annual median losses of non-problem gamblers. (Grinols, E. L., & Mustard, 2016)
• $5,434 – average annual losses of problem gamblers. (Grinols, E. L., & Mustard, 2016)
• $778 – average annual losses of non-problem gamblers. (Grinols, E. L., & Mustard, 2016)
• Online gambling addiction among college students: 1 in 20 college students meet the criteria for compulsive gambling. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• There is a correlation between compulsive online gambling and depression. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• Nearly 1 in 5 patients seen with suicidal ideation met the criteria for online gambling addiction. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• In a report—which tracked the links between gambling spend and problems experienced by 6.5 million Lloyds Banking customers over 7 years—it was considered the largest of its kind and found that the chances of financial harm rose notably stronger once someone spent 3.6% of monthly outgoings on gambling, equivalent to around $125 for the average household. (Nature Human Behaviour, 2020)
• At this level of spend, gamblers were 33.3% more likely to miss a mortgage payment, 22% more likely to use an unplanned overdraft, and 19% more likely to take a payday loan. (Nature Human Behaviour, 2020)
• Approximately 50% of respondents with compulsive online gambling were found to experience suicidal ideation. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• 29% have played online gambling-style games before gambling for money. (Ipsos, 2019)
• Evidence suggests there is a link between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and online gambling addiction. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• Around 10% of compulsive online gamblers report being concerned about substance abuse. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• One-third of compulsive online gamblers in Oregon’s gambling treatment system also have an alcohol use disorder. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• Another study found that the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in compulsive online gamblers was as high as 73%. (The Recovery Village, 2020)

Online Gambling by Age

Here are the numbers we have on child technology addiction statistics and teen technology addiction statistics pertaining to online gambling:

• Online gambling is one of the strongest predictors of gambling problems in young adults. (Responsible Gambling Council, n.d.)
• 1.2% – the US national average. (National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, n.d.)
• 69% of adolescents reported beginning gambling before the age of 12. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• Gamblers who start early are more at risk of gambling addiction and mental health issues. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• 7% of young adults have reported a gambling problem in the last 12 months, with a higher rate among men. (Responsible Gambling Council, n.d.)

11-16 years old

• 39% say someone in their immediate family has spent money on gambling in the last 12 months. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 6% say gambling among family members has made them feel bad at least sometimes in the past 12 months. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 57% say their family would discourage them from gambling. (Ipsos, 2019)
• 23% say their parents or guardians do set rules about gambling. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 20% say their parents or guardians don’t set rules about gambling. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 7% have ever gambled online. (Ipsos, 2019)
• 3% have gambled online in the last 7 days. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 12% have ever played an online gambling-style game. (Ipsos, 2019)

Exposure to gambling adverts and sponsorships

• 68% have seen or heard any gambling adverts. (Ipsos, 2019)
• 50% have seen or heard any gambling sponsorships. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 69% have seen or heard gambling adverts and/or sponsorships. (Ipsos, 2019)
• 47% have seen or heard gambling adverts and/or sponsorships on social media. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 45% have seen or heard gambling adverts and/or sponsorships on other websites. (Ipsos, 2019)
• 40% remember the last gambling advert they saw being a National Lottery draw-based game. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 33% remember the last gambling they saw being about a sports event. (Ipsos, 2019)
• Boys are more likely than girls to report seeing or hearing a gambling advert about a sports event (39% of boys vs. 28% of girls) or betting company (34% vs 21%). (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• Girls are more likely than boys to remember the last gambling advert they saw was about a National Lottery draw-based game. (Ipsos, 2019)
• 12% of young people follow or watch gambling companies on social media websites. The most commonly used platforms are YouTube (8%), Instagram (7%), and Snapchat (6%). (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 11% have received direct marketing from gambling companies (Ipsos, 2019)

Help for gambling-related problems among the 11-16 age group

• 50% have spoken with someone about potential problems gambling can lead to. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 74% know who they would go to for help if they had gambling problems. (Ipsos, 2019)
• 53% would go to a parent or guardian (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 22% would go to a friend. (Ipsos, 2019)
• 19% would go to another family member. (Gambling Commission, 2019)
• 16% would go to an older sibling. (Ipsos, 2019)

16-24 years old

• Teens in this age group who do online gambling are more likely to gamble as adults. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• Around 4% are affected. (NetAddiction, n.d.)
• For 11-18 years old, the figure stands at 4-7%. (NetAddiction, n.d.)
• Around 1 in 25 teens have a gambling problem. Gamblers who start early are more at risk of gambling addiction and mental health issues. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• Players 18-20 years are significantly more likely to chase losses and bet more than they did in the past. (Responsible Gambling Council, n.d.)
• As many as 60% of calls to leading gambling advice services come from people between 18 and 35 years old. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• 60% of young people aged 18-24 in Ontario have gambled. (Responsible Gambling Council, n.d.)
• 22-40-year-olds are more likely than other age groups to gamble while drunk. (Responsible Gambling Council, n.d.)

25-45 years old

• Compulsive gambling is most common in younger and middle-aged people. (NetAddiction, n.d.)

45 years old and up

• This age group is more vulnerable to compulsive gambling if members experience isolation or loneliness. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• 69% of adults over the age of 61 gamble each year. (The Recovery Village, 2020)

General Online Gambling Addiction Statistics

• Internet gamblers may be more likely to have a serious gambling problem. A study revealed that online gambling experience had the most serious levels of gambling behaviors: problematic and pathological. This was so even when it was the least common gambling activity reported. (NetAddiction, n.d.)
• In the US, 1% of the adult population has a severe gambling problem. The figure is derived from studies conducted from 2008 to 2010, however, with no current follow-ups. (National Center for Responsible Gaming Fact Sheet, n.d.)
• Electronic gambling machines may be the most addictive: gamblers who participated with electronic machines arrived at the pathological level in 1.08 years compared to 3.58 years with conventional forms of table and racetrack betting. (NetAddiction, n.d.)
• 6-9% of young people and young adults experience problems related to gambling at a higher rate than among adults. (National Center for Responsible Gaming Fact Sheet, n.d.)
• Current diagnosis for pathological gambling includes several criteria similar to alcohol and drug dependence: increasing tolerance; symptoms of withdrawal if gambling stopped or reduced; and inability to stop or reduce gambling. Criteria such as chasing losses are unique to gambling disorders. (National Center for Responsible Gaming Fact Sheet, n.d.)
• 96.3% of lifetime pathological gamblers met lifetime criteria for one or more of the other psychiatric disorders assessed in the survey. (National Center for Responsible Gaming Fact Sheet, n.d.)
• People with gambling problems do recover: in fact, approximately one-third seem to recover on their own without formal treatment. (National Center for Responsible Gaming Fact Sheet, n.d.)
• Based on the latest study of its kind (2017), Australia ($958) is the country with the largest gambling losses per adult, followed by Hong Kong ($768), Singapore ($725), Finland ($515), New Zealand ($454), Japan ($447), Ireland ($433), Norway ($430), United States ($421), and Canada (382). (Statista, 2018)
• Based on the gambling revenue based on visitors, the top 10 countries or locations are Macau ($1,354), Australia ($736), Singapore ($446), Philippines ($404), South Korea ($189), Las Vegas, USA ($156), Atlantic City, USA ($112), Cambodia ($73), and Malaysia ($72). (Casino.org, 2021)

Gambling and Criminal Activity Statistics

• Approximately 50% of compulsive gamblers commit crimes. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• Problem gamblers are 297% more likely to have committed a crime in the previous year than non-problem gamblers. (Grinols, E. L., & Mustard, D. B., 2016)
• More than 67% of compulsive gamblers report committing crimes directly related to gambling. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• Problem gamblers commit 2.2 to 3.2x the crime of non-problem gamblers. (Grinols, E. L., & Mustard, D. B., 2016)
• Around 40% of compulsive gamblers report that the only crimes they commit are related to gambling. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• 80-90% of individuals who attend Gamblers Anonymous report engaging in illegal acts to get more money for gambling. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• The easy accessibility of gambling is responsible for a 3.2 to 5.6% point rise in crime. (Grinols, E. L., & Mustard, D. B., 2016)
• 63% of Gamblers Anonymous members reported writing bad checks, while another 30% reported stealing from work. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• $2,200 to $3,000 – the justice system costs, in the form of arrests and corrections, per individual with problem gambling. (Kryszajtys, D. T., & Matheson, F. I., 2017)
• Nearly 70% of gamblers assessed as having severe problem reported engaging in illegal acts related to gambling, compared to around 26% assessed to have moderate severity. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• $10,000+ – the estimated lifetime costs of arrests for individuals with severe gambling problems. (Kryszajtys, D. T., & Matheson, F. I., 2017)
• The state of Georgia has estimated that the lifetime correctional costs for a problem gambler may range from $2,950 to $2,210. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• A study of Gamblers Anonymous members found that 57% had stolen to finance their gambling, with a combined financial impact of theft equaling $30 million. (The Recovery Village, 2020)
• Compulsive gamblers are arrested 7x more frequently than non-gamblers. (The Recovery Village, 2020)

Treatment for Online Gambling Addiction

• Psychotherapy, which includes cognitive-behavior therapy. This centers on teaching skills to alter the thinking and behavior that lead to gambling. (Very Well Mind, n.d.)
• Antidepressants and mood stabilizers may help patients who show other psychiatric disorders with their gambling problem. These include ADHD, OCD, or depression. (Very Well Mind, n.d.)
• Gamblers Anonymous and similar self-help groups. (Very Well Mind, n.d.)

Online Porn Addiction Statistics

In general, people use porn for the obvious reasons: arousal, boredom, curiosity, and fun. Some segments of the world population, however, inadvertently fall for too much of this type of content. Since porn companies are privately owned, it is generally hard to ascertain the market value of the industry. In any case, it is one of the most lucrative, having made enormous grounds since it was introduced to the internet in 1997. Here are some of the estimates to start our online porn addiction statistics.

The State of Porn: Online Porn Industry, Global Users Profile

• Pornography has gone almost completely digital. In particular, 71% of adults while 85% of teens and young adults consumed pornography using online videos.  (Barna Group, 2016)
• Pornography has drastically changed. Soft porn has disappeared, extreme content is the new norm. In February 2018, the headline for Esquire Magazine read, “Incest is the Fastest Growing Trend in Porn.” (ENOUGH IS ENOUGH®, n.d.)
• RedlightNetwork puts the 2020 global porn industry market value at $97 billion. (Morris, M., 2020)
• For 2019, Absolute Markets Insights estimated that the global online porn market had a $35.17 billion value. (Absolute Markets Insights, 2020), growing at CAGR of 15.12% during its forecast period.
• $10 billion – the estimated profit generated by the porn industry every year. (Morris, M., 2020)
• The porn industry’s annual revenue is more than that of the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. It is also more than the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 40 million – Americans who regularly access internet porn. (Morris, M., 2020)

How much of the internet is porn?

• According to studies by Google and Columbia University, only 4% of websites are estimated to be porn.  However, 13% of all web searches are about porn, with mobile searches accounting for as much as 20%. (Statista, 2019)
• 42 million – number of porn websites worldwide. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 370 million- total number of porn pages. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 28,258 – number of people watching porn every second. (Morris, M., 2020)
• 5 billion – emails with porn content that are sent daily. (Morris, M., 2020)
• $3,075 – spent accessing online porn per second. (Morris, M., 2020)
• A relatively new online porn technology, virtual reality porn, is projected to become a billion-dollar market in 2025. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• Deepfake pornography accounts for 96% of deepfake videos online. (Deeptrace, 2019)

General Online Pornography Statistics

• Nearly 80% of porn is now watched on mobile. (Quartz, 2019)
• Around 80-90% of online porn users only access free material, whether in the form of paid material samples, illegal copies, or amateur materials. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• 77% of men and 47& of women in the UK acknowledged that they had viewed x-rated content in the last month. (BBC Three, 2019)
• 47% of all respondents were comfortable with the amount of porn they watched, but 15% of men and 5% women thought they consumed too much. (BBC Three, 2019)
• 31% of men and 14% of women in the UK felt they had been addicted to porn. (BBC Three, 2019)
• Teens and young adults view “not recycling” as more immoral than watching porn. (Barna Group, 2016)
• More specifically, 32% say viewing porn is “usually or always wrong” compared to 56% who say not recycling is “usually or always wrong.” (Barna Group, 2016)
• In 2020, 36% of Americans say pornography is morally wrong, down from 37% in 2019. In 2018, 43% of Americans say pornography is morally acceptable, up 7% from the previous year. (Gallup.com, 2020)
• 37 million – number of employees who view pornography in the workplace. (Webroot, n.d.)

How Generations Perceive Porn

• Around 43% of teens see porn as bad for society, compared to 31% of young adults, 51% of Millennials, 44% of Gen-Xers, and 59% of Boomers. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• Just 55% of adults 25 and older view porn as wrong. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)

The Emergence and Rise of Camming

• $10 billion – estimated camming profit yield of camming industry in 2020. (The Conversation, n.d.)
• $1 billion – estimated revenue of live sex cams per year, and growing. (Adult Cam Review, n.d.)
• 5,407,486 – daily unique users of top camming website livejasmin.com, generating 10,236,192 daily pageviews with a daily revenue (from advertisements, i.e., Google AdSense) of $10,236. (SiteWorthTraffic.com, 2021)
• 40-65% – cut of hosting sites from camming performers, for providing chatroom services, an existing customer base, and payment services. (The Conversation, n.d.)
• 7-15% – bank charges for facilitating payment services for camming performers, much higher than the 2-3% that banks charge standard customers. (The Conversation, n.d.)
• 15-35% – cam girls based in the US. (Adult Cam Review, n.d.)

Average Online Porn Access by Gender

• Men are 543% more likely to look at porn than females. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• 91.5% (91-99% consistency) of men had consumed porn within the last month. (Hagar, M. H., 2020)
• 46-74% of men and 16-41% of women are active pornography users in modern nations. (Zattoni, F., et al, 2020)
• 60.2% (60-92% consistency) of women had consumed porn within the last month. (Hagar, M. H., 2020)
• On average, the first exposure to pornography among men is 12 years old. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)

Social Profiles and Porn Access

• Men who are happily married are 61% less likely to look at porn. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• Those who had committed adultery are 218% more likely to look at porn. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• Those who had ever engaged in paid sex are 270% more likely to look at porn. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• Those with teen children are 45% less likely to look at porn. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)

Gender and Porn Content

• A content analysis of Pornhub and Xvideos videos showed that 97% of the targets of violence and/or aggression were women. (ENOUGH IS ENOUGH®, n.d.)
• 38% of women under the age of 40 have experienced unwanted slapping, choking, gagging, or spitting during consensual intercourse. (ENOUGH IS ENOUGH®, n.d.)

Underage Exposure to Online Porn

• Children and teenagers are stumbling and watching porn from an early age—as early as 7 or 8 years old. (BBFC, 2019)
• 11 is the average age that a child is first exposed to porn. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 94% of children will see porn by the age of 14. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 51% – 11 to 13 years old (Fight the New Drug, 2020)
• 66% – 14 to 15 years old (Fight the New Drug, 2020)
• 79% – 16 to 17 years old (Fight the New Drug, 2020)
• Nearly 27% of teens receive sexts. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• Children in the 11 to 13 age group say that their viewing of this content was mostly or all unintentional (62% vs 46% of 16– to 17 -year-olds. (ENOUGH IS ENOUGH®, n.d.)
• An estimated 15% of teens are sending sexts. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• 75% of parents believed their children had never encountered porn, but 53% of the children had in fact seen them. (BBFC, 2020)
• 57% of teens search out porn at least monthly. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• Of the adolescents exposed to porn, 28% were first exposed by accident, 19% were unexpectedly shown porn by someone else, and 19% searched for it intentionally. (NSPCC, 2016)
• 51% of male students and 32% of female students first viewed porn before their teenage years. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• Despite the fact that porn is wildly unrealistic and often glorifies violence, sexism, or racism, 53% of boys and 39% of girls believe that pornography is a realistic depiction of sex. (NSPCC, 2016)
• 71% of teens hide online behavior from their parents. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• 18-year-old males who frequently consume porn are more likely to have sold and bought sex than other males of the same age. (NSPCC, 2016)
• In the UK, 44% of males aged 11-16 who consumed pornography reported that online porn gave them ideas about the type of sex they wanted to try. (NSPCC, 2016)
• 70% of Christian youth pastors report that they have at least 1 teen approach them for help in dealing with porn in the past 12 months. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 83% of parents agree that age verification controls should be in place for online pornography. (BBFC, 2019)
• 90% of teens and 96% of young adults are either encouraging, accepting, or neutral when they talk about porn with friends.

Online Porn Web Traffic

• 11 – porn sites among the top 300 websites in the world. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• 25% – search engine requests that are related to adult or porn searches. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• In 2020, porn sites received more traffic than Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, Zoom, Pinterest, and LinkedIn combined. (SEMrush, 2020; Visual Capitalist, 2021)
• The “teen” porn category has topped porn site searches for the last 7 or more years. (Fight the New Drug, 2019)

Effect of the Pandemic on Online Porn

• The pandemic is credited with the rise and growth of amateur and performer-produced porn, which is termed as “porntroprenuer,” considered as part of the broader gig economy. (BuzzFeed News, 2020)
• 75% – increase in new sign-ups in March for OnlyFans, a website that allows subscribers to see explicit content posted by social media users, with 50,000 of these from new creators. (Observer, 2020)
• OnlyFans saw 200,000 new users every 24 hours and around 8,000 new creators joining every day during the first quarter of 2020. (BuzzFeed News, 2020)
• 150% – OnlyFans rise in searches during 2020 at the height of the pandemic. (Refinery, 2021)
• 90 million – OnlyFans users with more than 1 million content creators, helped by the increased subscription during the pandemic. (Refinery, 2021)
• 30% – increase in web traffic for Cams.com during the pandemic. (Vox, 2020)
• Worldwide,  coronavirus-themed pornography search increased between 18.5% and 61.8%. (Zattoni, F. et al., 2020)

Pornhub on Spotlight

• Ranks in the top 10 visited sites globally. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• 77% – mobile traffic share in 2019, up 10% than in 2017. (Quartz, 2019)
• 42 billion – visits to Pornhub in 2019 alone, equivalent to 115 million searches per day. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• 36 years old – the average age of Pornhub visitors. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• 11 minutes, 21 seconds – time spent on Pornhub by visitors from Thailand, the most by a nation. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• 169 years – worth of content to watch on Pornhub. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• In 2019, the equivalent of around 6,650 centuries of porn was consumed on Pornhub. (Fight the New Drug, 2019)
• 125 seconds – increase in time spent on Pornhub for users in the 65+ age bracket. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• US- the country with the most Pornhub traffic. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)

Pornhub Data Consumption

From Pornhub Analytics, here’s how much data the porn provider used in 2019 alone. (Fight the New Drug, 2019, data provided by Pornhub, which actually provides such data, unlike others.)

• 6,597 petabytes of data transferred
• 18,073 terabytes a day
• 753,041 gigabytes per hour
• 209 gigabytes per second
• 203+ million video votes (if you started watching Pornhub’s new videos in 1850, you would still be watching them today)
• 70+ million messages sent between Porhub users
• 11.5+ million video comments
• 98,000 amateur models
• good, love, like, sexy, pretty, nice – most commented words.

Pornhub during the pandemic

• “Pornhub” and “porn” showed the highest increase in search interest from January to May 2020 at the start of the self-isolation during the coronavirus pandemic, at 4.9% and 3.8%, respectively. (Zattoni, et al, 2020)
• Web traffic for Pornhub increased 22% in February 2020 at the start of the pandemic. (The Economist, 2020)
• Reported a 12% traffic growth worldwide during the self-isolation period. (RTD, 2021)
• Traffic growth jumped 61% in Spain, 57% in Italy, and 38% in France during the self-isolation period. (RTD, 2021)
• Purged 9 million of its 13 million videos in December 2020 as part of a pledge not to publish nonconsensual content. (Refinery29, 2021)
• Approximately 1,000 COVID-19-related porn appeared on Pornhub, featuring clichéd plots and the fetishization of the pandemic. (RTD, 2021)
• Google Trends recorded booms in searches like “AmongUS porn,” “TikTok porn,” “BLM porn,” and “Black Lives Matter porn,” among others. (RTD, 2021)

Social and Religious Impact of Porn

• 64% of Christian men and 15% of Christian women watch porn at least once a month. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• 57% of pastors say porn addiction is the most damaging issue in their congregation. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 69% of pastors say porn has adversely impacted the church. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• A Barna Group research found that most pastors (57%) and youth pastors (64%) have struggled with porn—but less than 1% recommended telling their congregation. (Barna Group, 2016)
• 21% of youth pastors and 14% of pastors admit they currently struggle with using porn. (Barna Group, 2016)
• About 12% of youth pastors and 5% of pastors say they are addicted to porn. (Barna Group, 2016)
• 87% of pastors who use porn feel a great sense of shame about it. (Barna Group, 2016)
• 55% of pastors who use porn say they live in constant fear of being discovered. (Barna Group, 2016)
• Only 7% of pastors say their church has a program to help people struggling with pornography. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• When asked what should happen if a pastor is caught using porn, just over 40% of adult Christians believe the pastor should be fired or asked to resign. On the other hand, just 8% of the pastors agreed with termination or resignation as the appropriate protocol. (Psychology Today, 2020)
• 68% of churchgoing men view porn on a regular basis. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 33% of women aged 25-and-under search for porn at least once a month. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 87% of Christian women have watched porn—only 13% of self-identified Christian women say they never watch porn. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• A BBC survey revealed that for 55% of men and 34% of women, porn was the main source of sex education. (BBC Three, 2019)
• 55% of married men and 25% of married women say they watch porn at least once a month. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• Of young Christian adults 18-24 years old, 76% actively search for porn. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• Consistent with other studies, research on porn showed that 46.9% of respondents became more interested in more extreme porn that had previously disinterested or even disgusted them. (Wery, A., & Billieux, J., 2015)
• 47% of families in the US reported that pornography is a problem in their homes. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 59% of pastors said that married men seek their help for porn use. (Conquer Series, 2020)
• 300% – rate by which pornography use increases marital infidelity. (Conquer Series, 2020)

Sex Trafficking and Illegal Activities

The booming internet porn industry has spawned criminal activities related to sex trafficking and other illegal activities. Here are the numbers.

• The sex trafficking industry makes at least $99 billion per year (Equality Now, 2020)
• 66% of the global profits from human trafficking comes from sexual exploitation. (www.Alliance87.org, 2017)
• 63% of underage sex trafficking victims said they had been advertised or sold online. (Thorn, 2018)
• 49% of sexually exploited women said that they were forced to do pornography while they were being sold for sex. (Rescue: Freedom International, 2017)
• 79% of human trafficking is sexual exploitation. (UN, 2019)
• In 2020, NCMEC received more than 17,000 reports of possible child sex trafficking. (NCMEC, 2021)
• Of the 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally, 21% (8.5 million) are victims of commercial sexual exploitation. (www.Alliance87.org, 2017)
• In 2020, boys made up 7% of child sex trafficking victims reported to NCMEC. (NCMEC, 2021)
• 55% of sex trafficking victims met their trafficker through a website or app (Thorn, 2018)
• In the US, all 50 states, including Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico have reported child trafficking. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children – NCMEC, 2021)
• $100,000 – the average annual profit generated by each woman in forced sexual servitude, 6x more than the average profit generated by each trafficking victim worldwide, $21,800. (www.Alliance87.org, 2017)
• 1 in 6 of the more than 26,500 cases of children reported missing to NCMEC in 2020 who had run away were likely victims of child sex trafficking. (NCMEC, 2021)

Child Porn

One of the most reprehensible forms of pornography is child porn. Generally repulsive during the time of printed porn, it has surreptitiously slipped into the digital age as well.

• Recorded child sexual exploitation (aka “child porn”) is one of the fastest-growing online businesses. (IWF, n.d.)
• In 2019, 89% of known URLs containing child porn materials were hosted in Europe, up from 79% in 2018. (IWF, 2019)
• The Netherlands hosted 71% of child porn content in 2019, which is equivalent to 93,962 URLs. This is a significant increase from 47% in 2018. (IWF, 2019)
• North America hosted 9% of all known child porn URLs in 2019, down from 18% in 2018, (IWF, 2019)
• In 2020, 33,690,561 images of child sexual abuse were reported. This is up 21.24% from 2019 (27, 788,328). (NCMEC, 2020)
• In 2020, approximately 44% of all child sexual abuse material reported to the Internet Watch Foundation involved self-generated material. This is equivalent to a 15% increase from 2019. (IWF, n.d.)
• In 2020, 31,654,163 videos of child sexual abuse were reported. This is down 23.32% from 2019 (41,280,816). (NCMEC, 2020)
• In the same period, 120,590 other file formats of child sexual abuse were reported. This is up by 35.41% from 2019 (89,053). (NCMEC, 2020)
• 92% – images where victims were girls. (IWF, n.d.)
• Between 2005 and 2009, child porn was hosted on servers located in all 50 states of the US. (ASACP, 2009)
• In 2020, 21,669,264 cases of child pornography (possession, manufacture, and distribution) were reported. This is up 28% from 2019 (16,939,877) (NCMEC, 2020).
• 46% of child porn victims are 10 years old and under. (IWF, n.d.)
• In 2020, 37,872 cases of online enticement of children for sexual acts were reported, up 97.52% (19,174) from the previous year. (NCMEC, 2020)
• 1% of child porn victims are 2 years old or under. (IWF, n.d.)
• In 2020, 3,547 cases of unsolicited obscene materials were sent to children, up 120% (1,163) from 2019. (NCMEC, 2020)

A more sinister form of child porn: sibling child porn

• A 2021 finding from IWF reveals sex predators manipulating children to record their own sexual abuse and that of their friends and siblings. The severity and extent are as follows: Category A (number of images involving penetrative sexual activity), 46%; Category B (number of images involving non-penetrative sexual activity), 24%; and Category C (number of indecent images of children not falling within Category A or B), 30%. (IWF, 2021)
• 511 self-generated child porn images and videos assessed in this period involved siblings, equivalent to 8 images or videos each working day. (IWF, 2021)
• 65% of these cases involved one or both children engaged in direct sexual contact with each other. (IWF, 2021)
• In 2020, IWF analysts processed 299,600 reports of online child sexual abuse or child porn, up 15% from 260,400 reports in 2019. (IWF, 2021)
• Of these reports, 153,350 were confirmed as containing images and/or videos of children being sexually abused, up 16% from 132,700 in 2019. (IWF, 2021)
• The reports included 68,000 videos and/or images that were self-generated child sexual abuse, a 77% increase from the 38,400 reported in 2019. (IWF, 2021)
• In 92% of cases, there were 2 children with one tending to be slightly older. 8% showed more than 2 children. (IWF, 2021)
• Gender breakdown: 42% are just girls, 33% are with boys and girls together, and 25% are just boys. (IWF, 2021)
• 59% of these materials were predominantly found via Cyberlockers. (IWF, 2021)
• Image hosts accounted for 23% while forums accounted for 10%. (IWF, 2021)

Porn Addiction and Mental Health

• More than 50% of people engaging in online porn admitted to losing interest in social interactions. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• The neural and behavioral mechanisms associated with the anticipatory processing of cues specifically predicting erotic rewards relate to clinically relevant features of problematic pornography use (PPU). (Gola, M., et al, 2017)
• 10% of participants in a substance abuse study admitted to having an addiction to sex or pornography. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• Even before pornography use develops into full-blown PPU, neural pathways are being activated and strengthened, giving pornography use a “snowballing effect” that makes a one-time experience devolve into an ingrained addiction. (Hagar, M. H., 2020)
• High pornography use correlated with obsessional checking behaviors, neuroticisim, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• Regular porn use can become the root of objectification, sexual deception, and sexual aggression. (Hagar, M. H., 2020)
• Consumption of pornography is associated with greater acceptance of the objectification of women, which in turn is associated with greater rape myth acceptance and more frequent acts of sexual deception. Seabrook, R. C., et al (2019)
• Pornography is objectifying by nature and this objectification extends into the behavior and views of those who regularly consume this message. (Hagar, M. H., 2020)
• A former partner’s consumption of pornography leads to an increase in “women’s reports of interpersonal sexual objectification, internalization of cultural beauty standards, and eating disorder symptomatology” and being “indirectly associated with body surveillance and body shame through internalization of cultural beauty standards.” (Tylka, T. L., & Kroon Van Diest, A. M., 2014)
• The psychological effects of pornography corrupt the way that viewers regard their partners, increase deception and sexual aggression, and build insecurity and shame within their partners. (Hagar, M. H., 2020)
• 68% of divorce cases involved one party meeting a new lover on the internet. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)
• 56% – divorce cases that involved one person with an obsessive interest in pornography. (Adults Toy Guide, 2020)
• 50% of women fear that porn dehumanized women. (BBC Three, 2019)
• 70% of wives of sex addicts could be diagnosed with PTSD. (Covenant Eyes, 2020)

Social and Business Costs of Online Pornography Statistics

• $16.9 billion – online pornography annual estimated cost to business productivity in the US alone. (Webroot, n.d.)
• 25% – working adults who admit to looking at pornography on a computer at work. 70% of this online porn access occurs between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. (Forbes, 2013)
• $38 – loss each month or $456 a year per employee due to pornography. (Webroot, n.d.)

Porn Addiction Treatment

• Naltexrone, an opiate antagonist found effective for treating alchoholism, blocks opiates’ capacity to augment dopamine release. The success of this treatment reinforces the idea that porn consumption is an addiction rather than a harmless casual activity. (Hagar, M. H., 2020)
• Several US states have introduced legislation to combat the growing online porn. Arizona and Hawaii, for example, have put in place bills that would charge a one-time $20 fee to unblock internet porn. The proceeds are to go towards helping victims of sex trafficking.  (Statista, 2019)
• 83% of parents surveyed agreed that there should be age-verification controls in place for porn. (BBFC, 2019)

Long-Term Consequences of Technology Addiction

Technology addiction can have significant long-term consequences that affect various aspects of an individual’s life. Understanding these potential effects is crucial for recognizing the importance of balanced technology use. Here are some of the primary long-term consequences:

• Impaired Social Relationships: Excessive technology use can weaken interpersonal relationships. Individuals may prioritize screen time over face-to-face interactions, resulting in loneliness and social isolation.
• Decreased Productivity: Technology addiction can hinder productivity at work or school. Constant distractions from notifications and the temptation to engage in non-essential online activities can disrupt focus and hinder performance.
• Mental Health Issues: Prolonged technology use has been linked to increased levels of anxiety, depression, and stress. Individuals may experience a decline in mental well-being as they struggle to cope with the pressures of online interactions and social media comparisons.
• Sleep Disturbances: Excessive screen time, particularly before bed, can lead to sleep disorders. Blue light exposure from screens interferes with the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle, resulting in insomnia and reduced sleep quality.
• Physical Health Problems: Technology addiction often correlates with a sedentary lifestyle, which can lead to various health issues, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and musculoskeletal problems. Prolonged sitting and lack of physical activity take a toll on overall health.
• Cognitive Decline: Over-reliance on technology for information retrieval can impair memory and critical thinking skills. Individuals may become accustomed to seeking quick answers online rather than engaging in deeper cognitive processing.

Technology Addiction: The Other Side of the Story

Diving deeper into technology statistics reveals another dimension to our collective march to digital transformation affecting virtually every aspect of society. A segment of global populations are pushing themselves into a corner misusing the technology to hurt themselves, their families, friends, and the collective society. They comprise only a minuscule number, but it will reflect badly on the people around them if nothing is done to help them out of their predicament. To that end, we have included measures that could be used to help them. Additionally, the resources included in this article have more to offer in this direction.

In the final analysis, it might be up to technology itself to prevent these forms of technology addiction from even occurring in the first place. Algorithms could be set in such a way, for example, to limit use of these online technologies after a certain threshold is met. In the case of online porn addiction, governments are already actively pursuing policies to commit porn websites to place age restrictions under heavy penalties. Pornhub deleting millions of content because of these measures is a great step in this direction.

The march of technology is relentlessly accelerating. It remains for nations and societies to put their weight behind solutions to ensure that the vulnerable sections of their populations are well protected from its unwanted effects.

Key Insights

• Prevalence of Technology Addiction: With the rapid increase in global internet speeds and mobile device accessibility, technology addiction is becoming a significant issue affecting various demographics worldwide.
• Diverse Forms of Addiction: Technology addiction manifests in multiple forms, including internet, video gaming, mobile phone, social media, online gambling, and online pornography addiction, each with unique triggers and impacts.
• Significant Social Impact: Technology addiction, particularly internet and video gaming addiction, can lead to severe social consequences, including stress on relationships, work performance, and overall well-being.
• Gender and Age Differences: Different forms of technology addiction show varying prevalence among different gender and age groups, with men more likely to suffer from gaming and gambling addiction, while women are more prone to social media and online shopping addiction.
• Health Consequences: Physical and mental health issues are common among those with technology addiction, including poor nutrition, sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, and even physical ailments like carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Economic and Legal Implications: The rise in online gambling and porn addiction has economic and legal implications, including increased debt, crime rates, and challenges in regulating online content.
• Need for Interventions: Effective interventions, including therapy, regulatory measures, and awareness campaigns, are crucial to mitigate the impacts of technology addiction and support affected individuals.

FAQ

1. What is technology addiction? Technology addiction refers to compulsive behavior involving excessive use of digital devices and internet-related activities, which interfere with daily life and cause significant stress.
2. What are the common types of technology addiction? The common types include internet addiction, video gaming addiction, mobile phone addiction, social media addiction, online gambling addiction, and online pornography addiction.
3. How prevalent is internet addiction? Internet addiction affects up to 8.2% of the American and European populations, with some reports suggesting higher prevalence rates up to 38%.
4. What are the symptoms of video gaming addiction? Symptoms include spending excessive time gaming, neglecting personal hygiene and nutrition, experiencing sleep deprivation, and prioritizing gaming over other important activities.
5. How does mobile phone addiction manifest? Mobile phone addiction can manifest through constant checking of the phone, experiencing phantom vibrations, using the phone to alleviate boredom, and feeling anxious or irritable without the phone.
6. What are the risks associated with social media addiction? Social media addiction can lead to low self-esteem, poor body image, increased risk of depression and anxiety, and interference with sleep patterns and daily responsibilities.
7. How does online gambling addiction affect individuals? Online gambling addiction can result in financial problems, increased debt, strained relationships, and a higher likelihood of engaging in criminal activities to support gambling habits.
8. What is the impact of online porn addiction? Online porn addiction can lead to relationship issues, unrealistic sexual expectations, objectification of partners, and in severe cases, involvement in illegal activities like child pornography.
9. What are the treatment options for technology addiction? Treatment options include psychotherapy (such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), support groups like Gamblers Anonymous, and in some cases, medication to address underlying mental health conditions.
10. How can society mitigate the impact of technology addiction? Society can mitigate the impact through regulatory measures, public awareness campaigns, promoting healthy technology use, and providing accessible mental health support for those affected.

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By Nestor Gilbert

Nestor Gilbert is a senior B2B and SaaS analyst and a core contributor at FinancesOnline for over 5 years. With his experience in software development and extensive knowledge of SaaS management, he writes mostly about emerging B2B technologies and their impact on the current business landscape. However, he also provides in-depth reviews on a wide range of software solutions to help businesses find suitable options for them. Through his work, he aims to help companies develop a more tech-forward approach to their operations and overcome their SaaS-related challenges.