Ctrl + Desire: Digital Pornography, Desensitization, and Algorithmic Addiction
in: Psychological, Social, and Clinical Perspectives on Digital Addiction and Digital Diseases, IGI Global, pp.249-282, 2026
- Publication Type: Book Chapter / Chapter Research Book
- Publication Date: 2026
- Doi Number: 10.4018/979-8-2600-2468-3.ch008
- Publisher: IGI Global
- Page Numbers: pp.249-282
- Keywords: Algorithmic Addiction, Desensitization, Digital Pornography, Neurobiological Tolerance, Parasocial Sexual Interaction, Personalized Pornography, Platform Capitalism, Pornography Addiction
- Istanbul Gelisim University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
Pornography has existed across different historical periods; however, the digital age has fundamentally transformed its production, circulation, and consumption. This chapter examines how digitalization has reshaped pornography from a limited practice into a continuous, algorithmically governed, and personalized system. Rather than treating this shift as a quantitative increase, it is conceptualized as a structural break defined by platform-based governance, limitless access, and early-age exposure. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature, the chapter analyzes how digital pornography functions as a supernormal stimulus that reinforces desensitization and impaired self-regulation, while algorithmic recommendation systems and emerging technologies such as deepfake pornography intensify dependency, reshape consent, and reproduce gendered forms of digital violence. Digital pornography is thus approached as a structural phenomenon embedded in platform capitalism rather than an individual moral issue.