It's scapegoating to claim porn and video games are responsible for joblessness

I always find it so funny when people talk about pornography and video game "addiction", because if we're being honest with ourselves, it's a miracle we aren't all addicted to pornography and video games.

- RYAN COOGAN

We're all walking around with a little computer in our pockets that can show us naked people, or let us catch Pokémon, for free, on demand, rain or shine - why are we ever doing anything else? People focus on all the hours we waste watching porn, but really, when you think about it, I deserve a medal for all the time I'm not watching porn. Where's my parade? 

However, it appears that not everybody sees things that way. Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride has argued that pornography and video games are fuelling a mental health crisis among young men, causing them to leave the workforce. Speaking to the work and pensions select committee, Stride said that while women's mental health has been impacted more by unrealistic standards of beauty set by social media use, "for boys... things like gaming, and certainly pornography and things like that, is a more prevalent factor".

Stride's comments came as the latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics, for the period from January to March 2024, showed that 900,000 young people aged between 16 and 24 are classified as 'NEET' - not in education, employment or training - an increase of around 88,000 from the previous year.