Porn was (in my opinion) one of the major reasons why my first real relationship didn’t work out. It’s a really hard lesson to learn. In the moment, I didn’t understand how much it was affecting my confidence, self perception, and the overall dynamic of the relationship, but looking back it was a huge toxic factor. Growing up with unfiltered access to the internet at 12 and being surrounded by male friends who are all doing the same things is very hard to overcome. I wish I had at the time. Many of the people in my age group still don’t even see the problem. All I can hope to do is to protect my own future children and make sure that they aren’t exposed to the same stuff at that age.