Porn Surfing 101

There are thousands of gay porn sites that require a membership to see their content. So how do you know which sites are worth it and which are ripoffs? Porn Surfing 101 is designed to help you navigate your way to high quality pay sites with a minimum of hassles.

Why Even Pay for Porn?

Why not just get your video from the ubiquitous file sharing services and illegal porn blogs? There are a few reasons:

- to avoid the risk of downloading viruses to your computer.
- when you join a membership site, you get much more of an experience as you'll get a lot more of the information about the guys in the videos.
- it is actually the right thing to do: while file sharing is widespread and the chances of ever getting caught are low, you're getting something for nothing, which means that someone else - producers, directors, models, site owners - everyone who works in these gay-owned small businesses - loses out.

In Porn Surfing 101 you'll find articles on the following:

Paysite Content
Paysite Memberships
Navigation Tips
Online Privacy
Porn Surfer Glossary
History of Porn
Legal Issues
Health Issues

Exclusive video is by far the most popular type of content on any pay site. All of the best sites offer exclusive video; others only offer "plug-in" or leased content provided by another porn production company; the same plug-in content is therefore available on many different sites.

Much of the time you get a lot more than just sex in the videos;  there are often video interviews with the guys before they get into the sex, so you get more of a feel of their personality and background. Videos are usually between 10 and 20 minutes long and can be of superb DVD quality -- or absolute crap.

Video-on-demand (or pay-per-view) sites offer video from a variety of gay porn studios. With these sites you don't pay a monthly membership. Instead, you can "rent" a single movie or scene or buy time and "pay per minute," switching between as many videos as you like. For more details, check out BananaGuide's reviews of VOD sites.

Stream or Download?

Most pay sites offer two types of video: streams and downloads.

True streaming video allows you to watch the video in real time as it is "streamed" from the porn site to your computer. With true streaming video you can jump back and forth to any part of the video as soon as it starts to play. Streaming video does not save on your computer for future playback.

In fact,  most video that is called "streaming" these days is technically a "progressive download"; with progressive downloads the video file starts to   download to your computer while you start watching it. You cannot skip forward or back within the video until the download is complete, but once the progressive download is complete you won't have any buffering pauses like you may get with true streaming video.

Under ideal conditions, streaming video is clear and continuous, but top of the line technology must be used to create, send and receive the video. Usually, downloaded videos provide superior playback.

Downloaded video saves a large file to your computer. You must wait for the video to completely download before watching it. This can take a while for top quality videos because they can be very large files.

Some pay sites allow you to keep and view downloaded video files as long as you like; others use Digital Rights Management technology to license the video so that you have access to it for only a designated period, sometimes only for as long as you are a paying member of the site, but more often for the life of the computer.

There are a number of different formats for Web video, including:

 Windows Media (.WMV) played with the Windows Media Player

Real Media (.RM) played with RealPlayer

Flash (.FLV) played with the Flash Player

MPEG-4 (.MP4 .M4V) played with the QuickTime Player

QuickTime (.QT .MOV) played with the QuickTime Player

You may also occasionally find video offered in other outmoded formats such as DivX or AVI. New free versions of the video players are released regularly. Like any new version of software it is best to way a few months after a new release before installing it so that the bugs can be worked out. Otherwise you may have some trouble playing the video on membership sites.

Often you can play competing video formats in one player. For example, the RealOne Player "Plus" can play Windows Media and QuickTime files.

Images

Most pay site offer thousands of pictures along with their videos. The images are usually much larger and of better quality than those you will find on free sites and blogs.

Some pay sites don't bother with true digital photos, instead providing stills from their videos (known as "video captures," or "vidcaps" for short.) Vidcaps can range from quite sharp (if the video is high-definition) to awfully blurry (if they aren't processed correctly). Vidcaps can also only be enlarged to a certain point before they lose quality so they are seldom as large as true digital photos. On the other hand, there are some pay sites that take care to provide a full set of high-quality digital photos to complement each and every video.    

You can usually save any picture you're looking at by right-clicking on it and choosing "Save Picture As". Many paysites also allow you to download an entire photoset as a zip file which you then unzip to a folder on your hard drive. Very often you can also view the photos in a "slide-show" mode.

Live Sex

Many pay sites include access to real time sex shows or voyeur cameras. With live sex shows performances occur on a regular schedule. Recorded highlights of past shows are also usually archived on the site.

Voyeur sites, such as Boys Condo have several cameras situated in a living space so you can observe several guys at rest and play. Nudity and sex do occur regularly, but the episodes are not as scripted as the live sex shows.

The quality of video for live streams is not as good as for regular streaming or downloaded videos. Usually the sites include text chat so you can chat with other observers and / or the performer while watching.

More Content ...

E-Zines are leased by pay sites from content providers and offer new photosets, video, reviews and articles each month. Some of the most popular e-zines include Squirtz, Dick Magazine, Rainbow Magazine and Men Magazine.

Aside from video, images, live sex and e-zines, a pay site might also include erotic stories, chat, personals, forums, games, news and lifestyle articles.

Because pay sites depend on the customer remaining a member, they know they have to provide him with tons of high quality, exclusive content which is updated frequently -- and the best ones do!

Many pay sites offer you a chance to sample their offerings on a trial basis. For a low fee you (usually) gain full access to the site from two days to two weeks.

Be aware that, if you sign up for a trial you must cancel during a designated period or you will be rebilled for the monthly fee upon the expiration of the trial. Even more important, note that the designated period is sometimes one to three days less than the length of the trial, so you have to cancel before the trial's expiration in order to avoid the first monthly charge.

 It's easy enough to avoid being caught by this little trick: the rebill clause in the Terms and Conditions agreement will clearly state when a rebill will be made. (Remember, when you cancel a trial you still have full access to the site until the end of the trial period.) 
 
Terms and Conditions

Always scan the "Terms and Conditions" (T&C) agreement before signing up for a site. Of course you're not going to read the entire, legalistic, boring thing, but make sure to find the clauses regarding the rebill and cancellation terms, which are usually found around the middle of the agreement. If the terms are not clearly stated, do not join the site. 

In the bad old days of the adult Internet, you really had to be wary of slippery language. Fortunately, in recent years misleading tactics around billing have become quite rare because both government regulators and credit card companies have cracked down on abusers.

Things To Look Out For

If you take a trial the monthly rebill may cost more than a regular monthly membership

When you take a trial you would expect that when it converts to a monthly membership the monthly price would be the regular 30-day price. For example, the regular monthly price for a site is $29.95; it offers a three day trial for $3.95. If you don't cancel the trial then you are billed $29.95 for the next month's access. That is usually the case, but with a few sites the $29.95 price only applies if you sign up for the monthly membership directly (rather than taking the trial.) For these sites, If you take the trial the monthly rebill could be as high as $39.95. So always check the rebill information which is either at the bottom of the join page or in the Terms and Conditions agreement so you aren't unpleasantly surprised.

Automatic trials to other sites

Sometimes on the join page there will be one or two check boxes that tell you that you'll get a "free trial" to some other site when you join the site you're actually interested in. We advise you to always indicate that you do not want this "bonus" offering. These bonus sites are usually crappy ones you would never want to be a member of and if you don't remember to cancel the trial for the bonus site you are going to get rebilled the monthly fee, which can be as high as $39.95.

Record the details

Keep a record of the details of your transaction, including: the date, username, password, subscription or transaction number (if any), and the credit card used. At the bottom of the sign-up page, you'll find the name that will appear on your credit card statement (it is rarely the actual website name).

You will always be asked for an email address when you sign up. Make sure you provide a legitimate email as you will receive a confirmation of your membership via email. 

The most common method of payment for pay sites is via credit card. Some surfers are still concerned about sending their credit card information over the Internet, but there are reliable safeguards that have been set up to prevent private information from being intercepted.

All Web browsers support a protocol known as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) which allows Internet communications to be transmitted in encrypted form. With SSL, the information you send can be trusted to arrive privately and unaltered to the website you specify.

How do you know when a transaction is secure? Most of the time your browser will let you know when you are linked to a secured site:
- an icon of a closed lock should show up in the address bar of your browser. 
- The URL displayed in your browser address box will start with https rather than http, the additional "s" standing for "secured."

You may have reservations about sharing your credit card information with an adult site. But virtually all adult sites use third-party billing companies to process payments. Your credit card information is transmitted directly to the billing company; the porn site owner and employees never see this information.

Online Checks

You are often given the choice of paying for a membership with an online check. There is really no reason to do this unless you don't have a credit card. If you are concerned about sending your credit card information over the Internet, you should be more concerned about sending your bank account information. If at some point you ever found that an unauthorized withdrawal was made on your checking account, recovering the money is virtually impossible, while you can always challenge a charge on your credit card.

Web 900 - Paying on Your Phone Bill
 
Another payment option is to dial a 900 number and have a one time charge put on your phone bill. The process is a bit of a pain, with PIN numbers to deal with and a slightly higher cost, but it's an option for individuals who don't have a credit card.
 

When you decide to cancel your subscription to a pay site you may be asked for any of: subscription number, username, password, email address or the first several digits of the credit card you signed up with (which is why you kept all that information, right?)

A link to the site's customer service page should be included in the confirmation e-mail you received when you joined. You can also find the links to cancel at:

* the Member Services or FAQ page of the site
* the Terms and Conditions document
* the form page where new members sign up

At one or more of these locations you will find a reference to canceling with a link to a cancellation form. Just as when you joined, document your cancellation request by noting the date and time. In virtually every instance you will receive an email confirmation of the cancellation immediately.

Don't Cancel by Email

Sometimes you are given the choice of canceling by sending an e-mail. Avoid this. Instead you should always try to cancel by web form instead because the transaction is automated and instantaneous. With an e-mail you never know when your request will be acted upon. 

If Cancelling Doesn't Work

The adult Internet, under increased scrutiny from federal regulators and credit card companies, has really cleaned up its act in recent years. Consequently, problems with getting a pay site subscription cancelled or getting a refund are very  rare. 

Still, there are some renegade (often foreign operated) sites out there and it is conceivable that your initial attempt to cancel a membership will fail. If you don't receive a confirmation of the cancellation, you should then e-mail the site to make sure they have processed it.

If you have cancelled a subscription and then find an unauthorized billing on your credit card statement, contact the pay site immediately and explain the situation. Most sites will issue a refund to you in order to avoid having the billing charged back to them.

Likewise, if you join a site and find that it has patently misled you as to its content or you are having unresolvable technical problems and cannot enjoy the content, contact the site and request a refund.

If a pay site refuses to refund an unauthorized billing you can call your credit card company. Both Visa and Mastercard will likely believe you, charge back the disputed amount to the pay site and debit your account accordingly.

Fighting Back
 
If you believe a website is ripping people off, you can file a consumer complaint with the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel and / or the The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IFCC) which is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center.

There are hundreds of thousands of small porn sites that are affiliated with Adult Entertainment Networks (AENs), still commonly referred to as Age Verification Services or AVSs.

A charge of about $20 a year gives you access to thousands of very small member sites in a particular Adult Entertainment Network.

The Premium Membership Upsell

Every AEN wants to sell you a "premium membership", which can cost up to $40 per month. The premium memberships may include:
* access to video, live sex sites and e-zines - in other words, a pay site membership
* access to AEN sites that keep a standard of a minimum number of quality photos or video. In other words, the very best affiliated sites on the AEN may only be accessible with the premium membership.

Whenever you sign up with an AEN you are always automatically signed up for a free one or two week trial to the premium membership. Remember that you must cancel the premium membership before the end of the trial in order to avoid being charged for the next month of premium service.

BananaGuide doesn't go out its way to promote AEN's because:
* at most of the many thousands of AEN sites, you'll discover a handful of pictures and lots and lots of ads.
* many of the pictures and videos on the sites you get with an annual membership can be found on free sites and blogs.
* the premium monthly memberships offered by AENs are, in today's marketplace, poor value for money. 
* AEN tours are misleading as to what is included with the basic annual membership (access to member sites) and what is only available with the premium monthly membership (video, live sex feeds and other extras).

Free sites and blogs receive revenue if they send you to a pay site that you end up joining. Various methods are used by free sites to get you to go where they want you to go, which explains why navigation can be a pain when surfing for porn.

Banner and Text Ads

The most obvious and straightforward way of getting you to visit a pay site is through the display of banner ads and text links. Just click on the banner or text link and you are taken to the sponsor's site. Text and banner ads are a user-friendly means of encouraging you to visit sponsoring sites; they are how BananaGuide makes its suggestions known. But, elsewhere on the Net, other more intrusive methods are commonplace:

Popup Consoles

Sometimes when you click on a text or image link, a new screen "pops-up". This can happen when you enter a site, moving around within a site, or when you exit a site. When you try to close the screen, another one replaces it. This can repeat itself several times and in its worst form, you are taken into a loop, known as a "mouse-trap" or a "circle-jerk", that requires you to shut down your browser or even turn off your computer. Most surfers now use the pop-up blocker that's built into their browser to keep this problem under control.

Misleading Links

These are text or image links that take you to somewhere other than you expected. A common form is when the webmaster hides the entrance to a free site. The splash page of the site will have some text is larger letters, such as "ENTER HERE". You click on the link and are taken somewhere else completely. Other varieties of misleading links are "Click here for hot pics" "Next gallery" or a thumbnail photo that takes goes to a pay site instead of the full-sized photo.

Unfortunately for surfers, misleading links are ubiquitous on the adult Web.

Porn Portals

There are hundreds of directories, search engines, review sites and blogs that specialize in gay porn -- and most of them are just plain awful. The reason most gay porn portals are not very good is because they are primarily designed to make their owners money by sending you to pay sites rather than by helping you find what you want.  

Review Sites

When BananaGuide launched in 2000 it was the very first site to specialize in providing objective reviews of gay membership sites. In recent years, review sites have become commonplace, though really good ones are still quite rare. Here are a few review sites aside from BananaGuide that we think do a good job:

Gay Demon started doing site reviews shortly after BananaGuide.

The Best Porn, which covers both straight and gay sites, went online in 2003.

Just Us Boys started doing site reviews in 2006.

Porn Blogs

There are a zillion porn blogs that offer surfers free photos or video clips. Often it you click on a photo in the blog you'll be taken to the paysite that provided the photo. If you already know that the site is a good one it's a safe bet to join, but if you're not sure try to find a review of the site from a trusted source, like BananaGuide.

Directories (link lists)

Below are three of the better gay adult directories. Each has very good coverage and significant editorial input - in other words real human beings look at the sites before they are listed in the directory.

Fab Free Sites, which used to be a part of BananaGuide, lists thousands of free sites and is updated every Thursday.

Hunkhunter's Haunts is the most comprehensive directory of gay free and Adult Entertainment Network (AEN) sites on the Net. Sites are categorized and rated with little penis icons according to the number of pictures they offer.

ManPics is an enormous directory of free and AEN sites - and it has no advertising! Updated weekly.

The pornography industry in the United States earns revenues of over $10 billion annually. Of that amount, over $2 billion is spent on porn websites. Baby Boomers and subsequent generations have played a major role in fueling this spending. As avid participants in the sexual revolution of the 1960's and 70's, Boomers helped to loosen the taboos that permeated sexual life until that time. Porn DVDs, pay-per-view movies, adult cable channels, the phone sex industry and membership sites all contribute to overall revenues.

At the same time the rights of adults to view adult-oriented material have been hotly debated in the media, all levels of government and organized religion. Dramatic changes in the public attitude toward explicit material have been driven by a loosening of restrictive moral strictures, an acceptance of sexual fantasy as healthy and by the spread of these materials throughout the media. These changes have stoked the fires of a highly profitable industry.

Magazines

Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine was one of the first to take adult material into the mainstream. In 1953 he obtained a calendar photo of Marilyn Munroe for $500 and featured it in his first issue, selling more than 50,000 copies on the newsstands. The second anniversary issue of Playboy sold 400,000 copies. Many imitators followed, the most notable of which were Penthouse and Hustler. These magazines definitely pushed the envelope for explicit photography and content. They were also sometimes considered degrading to women.

By the mid 60's stars like Jane Fonda, Shirley McLean and Elizabeth Taylor had appeared in Playboy. In 1971 Hefner's worth was pegged at $168 million, and in 1973 Roger Ebert wrote a profile for Esquire Magazine of Hefner's daughter Christie when she became the Chief Executive Officer of the Playboy empire.

Magazines catering to a gay clientele were clearly in evidence by the 1950's. After Dark, published in New York was a glossy entertainment magazine that featured lengthy articles and tastefully revealing photographs on choreographers, dancers and handsome young actors in the early stages of their careers. Robby Benson and Jean Michael Vincent are just two of many who were featured.

On the opposite coast, in Los Angeles, Physique Pictorial also began in the 50's. Muscular young men in "athletic" or playful poses filled its pages. Photographers such as Van Gloeden and William Day published portfolios of frankly erotic photographs. In the 1970s gay pornographic magazines took their places on newsstands. Of course gay men read them only for the articles!

Adult Movies

Movie loops and underground film footage were in wide circulation in both the straight and gay communities by mid-century; however by the early 70s mainstream films such as Deep Throat, starring Linda Lovelace and Behind The Green Door, starring Marylyn Chambers took pornographic movies into the mainstream. Male stars such as John Holmes and Harry Reams received notice for their own unique talents. In recent times, porn stars Ron Jeremy and Traci Lords have crossed over into mainstream films and television. Sexual themes, plot lines and images have now become common in all of the mainstream media.

The VCR

The advent of the videocassette recorder in the late 1970's caused a sea-change in the adult movie world. The VCR allowed millions of consumers who would never be caught dead in a porn theater to enjoy adult films in the privacy of their own homes. The adult video industry exploded. Today, over 10,000 new DVD titles a year are released, a star system has developed and there are industry associations, trade fairs, and a multitude of publications and guides to the adult film world.

The Internet

The development of viable personal computers in the early 1980's started the revolution we enjoy today. Color monitors with improved screen resolution and greater graphics capabilities coincided with the development of File Transfer Protocols, which allowed files to be transferred between computers using a remarkable piece of hardware called a modem. Despite the fact that the early modems were slow, and the transfer of large files over long distance lines was expensive, the earliest computer bulletin boards were a huge success. The Bulletin Board Services (BBS's) became a repository for large numbers of explicit images scanned in by willing contributors.

In 1989 a computer scientist named Timothy Berners-Lee created a set of protocols for linking documents that would allow personal computers to talk to each other. He called it HTML, or Hyper Text Markup Language and it was the single most important milestone on the road to the World Wide Web. Because of the need to be able to move around between and inside a website, the first Web browsers appeared in 1991. Then came Mosaic, a browser that allowed more than one type of information to appear on the screen at the same time, combining graphics, text color and sound.

The need to broaden the reach of the Net became quickly apparent. Universities and governments operated the first servers and access to the Web was very limited. Soon more and more commercial servers opened up, allowing customers with PCs to access other PCs via the growing Net.

In 1994 the development and mass marketing of Netscape Navigator boosted the number of Internet users to 2 million. Individuals and businesses began realizing the potential of the Internet and started setting up their own sites. In the mid to late nineties, Internet traffic grew exponentially.

By the late 1990's large and small advertisers were spending billions a year on Internet advertising. Advertising of adult sites represented a significant percentage of that amount, demonstrating the economic potential of the Net. Pornographers made early use of online shopping mechanisms such as catalogues and credit card use, monthly site fees and provision of extensive free material as a lure for potential customers. In just a few years, the Internet changed the way we all interact with the world.

We applaud the operators of porn sites for their early recognition of the Internet's potential, their creativity and their willingness to portray frank sexuality in all its many facets.

Copyright

The most flaunted laws on the Internet are those governing copyright. Copyright begins with the creator of a work and continues through that author's life plus 50 years. Only then is that work in the "public domain". There is therefore virtually no erotic photography on the Web that can be considered to be in the public domain.

Anyone who puts up a site with photos they download elsewhere off the Internet is infringing someone's copyrights. The same applies to individuals who trade videos and photos on the various file sharing services. You don't have to be making money to infringe on copyright.

"Sharing" files also poses a security risk as the files may contain viruses or worms that can harm your computer or spyware programs that can record your computer activity.

Part of the Terms and Conditions of any pay site is a proviso barring the redistribution of pictures and videos that you view on the site. Redistributing the media is breaching a legal contract.

Sermon over!

Illegal Materials

There are, floating around the Internet, materials that are illegal to possess or distribute in most jurisdictions, specifically sexual depictions of anyone under 18 years of age, sex with animals or sex with violence. Usually the case is that the content is tolerated (though still technically illegal) in the jurisdiction in which the server is located. It remains illegal to download and distribute such materials in the vast majority of countries and many police forces actively pursue and prosecute violators.

The adult industry actively cooperates with law enforcement agencies through the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP).

Protecting Minors from Adult Content

The right of free speech must be balanced with the right of children to use the Internet without being exposed to graphic depictions of sex. Preventing minors' exposure to sexual imagery is the main thrust behind government initiatives to regulate the adult Internet.

The adult industry in general is interested in placing barriers to access by children, but there is no perfect method to accomplish this goal. Net filtering programs installed on children's computers do help but are still flawed in that they fail to block some porn sites, while blocking other sites that aren't pornographic. Ultimately it is the responsibility of parents to regulate their children's Internet use.

Sexual Health

While there is a preponderence of health information available on the Web, don't act on medical advice unless you are confident in the source and - even then - only in consultation with your physician.

Here are some reliable sources of health information for gay men:
GayHealth.com has a comprehensive section on sexual health as well as general health concerns of gay men and lesbians. Its sponsors are, not surprisingly, the major drug companies.

The following are excellent sources of information on all aspects of HIV/AIDS:
Gay Men's Health Crisis
AEGIS (AIDS Education Global Information System)
The Body

AIDS and the Net

We believe that the stubbornly high HIV infection rates among gay men in North America are partially related to the ease of hooking up via chatrooms and personals websites for unsafe sex.

Many men do not know their current HIV status and make assumptions about their partners status; that is the main reason new HIV infections occur.

Bareback porn, depending on how it is presented, can also reinforce the message that condomless fucking has no health consequences. It does. Only by using a condom when fucking can you minimize your chances of contracting or passing on HIV. Please take care. 

Viagra, Cialis & Levitra Online

Internet pharmacies can save people time and money and the service has, in fact, been condoned by Consumer Reports. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notes that many Internet pharmacies are lawful enterprises that genuinely offer convenience, privacy, and the safeguards of traditional procedures for prescribing drugs.

There are, however, unethical sites that sell unapproved products or sidestep established procedures meant to protect consumers. Refer to the FDA's web page, Buying Medicine and Medical Products Online before considering a purchase.

We strongly advise you to consult with your doctor about the use of Viagra, Cialis or Levitra as they are not recommended for everyone.

Pricing: One-Two-Three

The pricing of online prescriptions vary widely, so shop around before making a purchase. It gets more complicated because there are three components to the final price; different pharmacies may charge separately for each component or combine them all in one flat fee.
The Physician's Consulting Fee
Erectile dysfunction drugs must be prescribed by a real doctor, regardless of whether you order online or not. You have to answer several health related questions which are then reviewed before the doctor approves the prescription. The consulting fee may be good for only a one time purchase, or it may last for several prescription repeats.
The Drug Cost
In addition to the consulting fee, you must - of course - pay for the actual drug.
The Delivery Charge
Delivery costs are usually around $20 for overnight courier.

Viagra, Cialis and Levitra are powerful medications which should be taken with caution. Never use poppers when using these drugs. Men with angina or active coronary artery disease should avoid these drugs. You should not take them if you are taking medications that contain nitroglycerin. Men with congestive heart failure or high blood pressure should use these medications with caution. Lower doses are often prescribed for men who are taking protease inhibitors for AIDS. If you fall into any of the above categories - and even if you don't - consult with your physican about the safe use of erectile dysfunction drugs.

Penile Enlargement Scams

Your cock is beautiful! Unless you've been diagnosed with the medical condition known as micropenis, your cock size is just fine. Sure, if you could just snap your fingers and have a bigger one, you might add an inch or two, but it just isn't that simple: most methods of penile enlargement are completely ineffective. That doesn't stop Internet charlatans from playing on the insecurities of men about their dick size: sex-surfers are constantly being bombarded with penile enlargement schemes.

Never fall for claims about pills or herbal concoctions that can make your cock bigger: they simply do not work. Websites that sell these products are frauds. Don't waste your money or your pride.

Urologists agree that exercises (known as jelqing), wearing penile weights or using vacuum devices will not lengthen the penis. Surgery to increase penis length is not endorsed by the American Urologic Association and should only be contemplated if your penis is less than three inches erect.
 

Mental Health - "Internet Addiction"

All pleasurable activities can be overdone and that goes for Internet use, particularly sex-related Internet use. In the late 90's some psychologists went so far as to label extreme usage as "Internet Addiction Disorder" (IAD).
Whether it is useful to label Internet overuse as an "addiction" is debatable. The impact of Internet use on your physical health, relationships and occupation is important, but the real issue is the underlying reason behind the excessive use.

Today few psychologists or psychiatrists would make "Internet addiction" a primary diagnosis, but would instead explore the underlying reasons for spending too much time online. If you or those close to you believe you are spending so much time online as to negatively affect other aspects of your life, ask your doctor for a referral to a counsellor.