Men Are Delaying Marriage Because Of...

If you are a male and you find yourself spending more time on YouPorn and PornHub than on actual dates, then you might be setting yourself up for a lonely future. It seems that men are delaying marriage because of porn — or, more accurately, that the rise in porn use is leading to fewer marriages, a new study indicates.

The study, published in Germany’s Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), set to find out if porn played a role in whether not young men get married. To answer this question, researchers used data from the nationally representative General Social Survey to study the Internet habits of more than 1,500 American men ages 18 to 35, between the years of 2000 and 2004. Participants were analyzed based on how many hours they spent on the Internet per week and what types of websites they visited, including porn websites, religious websites, news websites, sports websites, and others. Researchers adjusted for variables that also impact marriage, such as age, income, and education, and then measured the correlation between porn use and marriage rates. Researchers found that the rise of free Internet pornography correlated with declining marriage rates, and is also likely a contributing cause for the singledom of some participants.

Millennials who seek matrimony will be disappointed to hear that the study also found that overall higher Internet usage was associated with lower marriage rates as well, so maybe we're all destined for singledom.

Even though the study’s finding weren’t conclusive, the researchers are confident that there is a causal link between porn usage and marriage rates. They speculate that porn interferes with the relationship between marriage and sexual gratification. Apparently, porn is undermining marriage’s function as a provider for that sexual gratification, and therefore less people are walking down the aisle. And while it is true that less and less Americans are getting married, I find it hard to believe that porn, or accesses to sexual gratification outside of marriage, is one of the main culprits. If someone is looking to get married simply to have consistent access to nookie, then that person probably shouldn’t be getting married at all. Granted, desire for sexual intercourse may be a reason that someone seeks out a relationship, and that relationships may lead to marriage, but porn is hardly a substitute for companionship.

As Jezebel points out, this study didn’t consider the effects of porn use of women— and if porn has such a effect on marriage rates, wouldn’t that be something important to consider? So because of this and the previously mentioned reasons, take the results of this study with a major grain of salt. And if you are really worried about how your porn watching habits will effect your chances of getting married, then just ignore James Deen's advice above.

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