What begins as an apparently harmless erotic adventure - a click here, a search term there - can so easily run away with us. And only too easily and quickly, we find ourselves almost compelled to repeatedly access those sites.
With repetition, the overwhelming and often all consuming desire becomes an almost automatic behaviour.
And before we know it, we have become addicts.
With the expansion of the internet and its easy accessibility, more and more people are having their lives wrecked by this insidious and powerful addiction.
The vast majority of pornography addicts are men, though women too can also experience this particular addiction.
The consequences can be considerable. Relationships can be spoiled beyond repair and reputations destroyed. Many are so compelled to view internet porn that they do so at the most inappropriate times and places, sometimes even putting their jobs and livelihoods at risk.
Many people find themselves running up massive credit card bills paying for access to one internet pornography site after another.
The stress and anxiety that all of this causes, together with the loss of self-esteem, is simply part of the price paid by the internet pornography addict.
Secrecy and deception so easily compel the individual to live a strange kind of double life.
It is a hollow existence, filled with tension, remorse and guilt.
Internet pornography addiction shares symptoms common with any other form of addiction. They partake of the same obsessional pattern.
These include difficulty in limiting or ceasing the process. Withdrawal symptoms such as irritability and mood swings are often experienced when attempting to break away and stop.
The person who is addicted develops a real preoccupation with pornography and feels compelled to seek opportunities to look at it.
Often they place important relationships at risk by continuing this activity.
So very often, as tolerance for pornography increases, it produces an ever increasing appetite for it.
Like all other addictions, the real reason for pornography addiction most often lies at the subconscious level. Here, complex feelings - very often reaching back into the individual's past - drive and feed the desire to distract.
Advanced transformational hypnotherapy works with the subconscious mind, helping the individual to neutralize these powerful drivers and replace them with a more harmonious way of functioning.
If you or someone you care about is experiencing the destructive and potentially devastating effects of an internet pornography addiction, do not despair, help is available.
Seek out an experienced and fully qualified transformational hypnotherapist and regain control of your life.