Charlene, how has the internet played a part in sex addiction across the country?
Charlene: That’s been a boom. It’s all about instant gratification. It’s about more, more,
more, quicker, quicker, quicker. When we think about how it’s progressed, at the
beginning magazines. You’d have to go, get dressed, get in your car, drive over to
a store, get a magazine or get a video. All of that’s changed now. It’s a click of a
button. You don’t even have to get up out of bed. You could do it while your wife
is sleeping next to your or while your husband is sleeping next to you.
I think the variety, the intensity, how much of it. It’s just click, click, click and it’s
all there. That changes the brain for sure. The hits of dopamine are constant and
I call internet porn like the crack cocaine, the meth-amphetamine. They’re direct
hits. They’re quick. There’s no delay.
Escorts are easily accessible; Back Page, Craig’s List. These are all things that
weren’t available 10 years ago, 20 years ago. All of these websites that are
coming up; Ashley Madison, Grinder, Tinder. All of these websites just make it to
where I could be sitting in a coffee shop and all I have to do is open my app and
type in what it is that I’m looking for and within seconds I have 30 available
partners that are right around me. That was absolutely not available before and
that is just part of what this boom is doing and driving that disconnection where
it’s just so easily accessible and that instant gratification. I don’t have to wait
anymore for anything.