[imagesource: Shutterstock]

Apologies to the man in the stock photo above.

We have no proof that he was looking at pornography while at work. When you pose for stock photos, you know this is the risk you take.

It could always be worse.

Thanks to a number of polls and studies, we do know that a staggering number of people admit to dabbling in a spot of pornography while on the clock.

Consider this via the BBC:

One global survey of 2,000 people for Sugarcookie, a digital lifestyle magazine, revealed more than 60% of people questioned had watched porn at work. And more than half of remote workers admitted watching adult content on devices they also used for work-related tasks, in a 2020 survey for security giant Kaspersky.

Global research last year for Pornhub, the world’s largest adult-entertainment site, supports the idea that people are watching content during working hours… [and] the site’s data suggested a similar mid-afternoon spike even before the pandemic.

Sure, remote working does open up the opportunity to take a break now and again, so to speak. However, the 60% who said they had watched porn at work don’t have that excuse.

Psychologists say the reasons behind this aren’t as simple as wanting to get one’s rocks off:

…the most common reasons people watch porn are because they’re bored or want to distract themselves from other emotions. Adult content is also used for fantasy (experiencing or witnessing things that aren’t available in your own sex life); curiosity and self-exploration (understanding your own personal desires); and, of course, for personal sexual pleasure.

Craig Jackson, a professor of occupational health psychology at Birmingham City University, says it can also be used as a form of “stress relief or a coping mechanism”.

I’m not convinced that is going to get you off the hook should you be caught on the job. Then again, I guess it very much depends on what sort of environment you work in.

For some, choosing to watch pornography at work may also be about chasing a sense of victory or rebellion against an unsatisfactory employer. In analogue times, recalls Jackson, it wasn’t uncommon for unhappy staff to sneak off to read horse-racing predictions in the newspaper for half an hour.

When viewing porn on the job, there’s the thrill of stealing work time as well as doing something that you know is taboo (at least, at work).

It’s also been argued by psychologists that certain employees may use it as a reward system for achieving a task, in the same way that another might choose to eat a piece of cake or have a drink.

Addiction therapist Paula Hall argues that the approach to curbing drinking during working hours, which has involved informative campaigns rather than shaming, should also be applied to those suffering from an addiction to viewing pornography.

The caveat to the above is that anybody viewing that content in a shared physical workspace invites all sorts of fair criticism.

I know you paid for your hot desk in that lovely co-working space but please, be considerate.

[source:bbc]