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Joshua B. Grubbs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic is affecting almost all aspects of daily life. Travel is down; jobless claims are up ; and small businesses are struggling. But not all businesses are experiencing a downturn. In many regions, these spikes in use have occurred immediately after social distancing measures have been implemented.

From 12th to 18th April in the UK, there were more searches for 'porn' than at any other point in the year apart from, um, the week of Christmas. When you're not having sex but engaging with porn, and that's the only outlet, it can be depressing. I'm now making sure not to turn to it when I'm lonely. Skip navigation!

Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. However, these measures may also lead to increases in social isolation, loneliness, and stress, which can alter the consumption of pornography habits.

How did you learn to have sex? Maybe you worked it out bit by bit with a partner. Maybe you talked about it with friends and got tips and tricks from them. Or maybe you watched porn. If you're under 35, it's almost certain you've watched porn at least once, with surveys such as triple j's annual check-in with young people finding 93 per cent of men and 58 per cent of women do.