Over the last 20 years, the availability and use of adult content have skyrocketed. At SelfChanger, we seek to understand the impact of technology on people and porn.

It’s difficult to measure the size and impact of the porn industry from currently available research. The industry maintains mutually beneficial secrecy for both the consumer and distributors. But it appears the reach is huge. Over 90% of adults 18 – 35 years old responded yes when asked, "Do you watch porn?" in our 2020 survey of 600.

Pornhub has been a leader in publishing its search results and use metrics. Porn search results can offer a view into where human minds wander. Unfortunately, the data has limited usefulness when developing treatments for people who struggle with their use of adult content.

The impacts of high-speed internet on human behavior are being studied. However, the effects of technology on sexual experiences, societal norms, and personal behaviors are mostly unfolding in private.

To encourage honest engagement, SelfChanger required a system that:

• Ensures the privacy of every participant

• Supports long-term research

SelfChanger began collecting results by using survey software from commercial on-line providers. These products are quite powerful, but they require personal information from respondents to function.

To guarantee participant privacy, we developed the HabitApp™ platform. The project allows millions to anonymously make their voice heard on some of life’s most private experiences: porn, sexuality, and relationships.

The HabitApp platform resides on Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure. This is one of the most trusted names in cloud computing. The platform is encrypted end to end. HabitApp is unique in that we do not store any data that could identify a user to the content in our systems. A data breach would yield zero personal identities. Our server logs do not record user or computer PI.

Due to our mission of total privacy, we cannot provide every convenience users have come to expect. For example, we cannot recover a lost password. There is no way for us to know what individual authored content in our system, and so we ask users to create a new account if they lose their password.

HabitApp supports research that can span years. This capability helps us develop a deeper understanding of technology and porn’s changing impact over time. Long-term studies help us discover why people choose adult content and to what extent, and how personality types can predict behaviors and openness to treatment responses. Understanding changing societal norms is critical in developing treatment methods that resonate with real human experience.

Thanks for your interest in our work. Please feel free to send us a comment from the link below with any questions.

SelfChanger@2021