quarter of men aged 18-24 are worried about the amount of porn they are watching on the internet

<p>quarter of men aged 18-24 are worried about the amount of porn they are watching on the internet, new research suggests.<br /><br />Heavy users in the study were much more likely to report problems with their jobs, relationships and sex lives.<br /><br />Newsbeat teamed up with doctors from the Portman Clinic for the report, the first of its kind in the UK.<br /><br />"Those people spending large amounts of time accessing porn are not having more fun," said Dr Heather Wood.<br /><br />"They are more worried about themselves, more worried about what they are looking at, and report more relationship problems."<br /><br />Free porn<br />One thousand and fifty seven 18-24 year olds were asked to take part in an online survey drawn up with help from Dr Wood and her colleagues at the clinic, part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.<br /><br />Continue reading the main story<br />Anyone who pays for porn these days needs their head checking because there is so much free porn out there<br /><br />Ian Barber (left)<br />Almost eight out of 10 men said they had looked at porn on the internet compared with just over a third of women.<br /><br />Free websites were by far the most popular way of getting hold of adult material, followed by file-sharing networks, mobile phones and TV.<br /><br />The last few years have seen the rise of user-generated porn sites modelled on video sharing services like YouTube, and funded by advertising revenue.<br /><br />The largest are now some of the most visited entertainment portals in the UK, more popular than mainstream sites like ITV.com or Channel4.com, according to the internet ranking company Alexa.<br /><br />Many contain thousands of free videos - from short clips of porn films to hardcore amateur footage.<br /><br />"Anyone who pays for porn these days needs their head checking because there is so much free porn out there," said Ian Barber, 22, from Manchester.<br /><br />"It's just part of lad culture in this country. It's not weird and it's not frowned upon.<br /><br />"Within a second there will be hundreds of videos. That's why people spend so much time on there because they think 'maybe there will be a better one' and they keep going and going."<br /><br />'Fine in moderation'<br /><br />UK porn star Gemma Massey answers questions on life in the industry<br />The average man in the study spent more than two hours a week surfing adult sites, compared with less than fifteen minutes for the average woman.<br /><br />Two-thirds of men and half the women said that looking at porn was fine in moderation, while 57% of men said it made them more interested in sex with their partners.<br /><br />But a quarter of all men in the survey said there were worried about the amount of porn they were looking at, while almost as many said they were concerned about the type of images they were viewing.<br /><br />Four per cent of men aged 18-24 said they used adult sites for more than 10 hours a week, a level which doctors describe as "problematic and potentially compulsive".<br /><br />Jason Dean, a counsellor who runs a website for online sex addicts, said: "I speak to people who feel unable to cut down or stop using these sites.<br /><br />"It used to be mainly middle-aged single guys but now I get more contact from women, teenagers and people in their 20s."<br /><br />'Influencing behaviour'<br />Men who look at porn for 10 hours a week are much more likely to worry it is influencing their behaviour, the survey suggested.<br /><br />Higher numbers of those heavy users said their porn viewing had upset a partner or caused them to miss a meeting at work.<br /><br />Men looking at porn for at least 10 hours a week were also more likely to say it can put them off real-life sex.<br /><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/12918531"><br /><br /></a></p>

quarter of men aged 18-24 are worried about the amount of porn they are watching on the internet

quarter of men aged 18-24 are worried about the amount of porn they are watching on the internet, new research suggests. Heavy users in the ...

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80,000 people in Britain claim incapacity benefit because they are alcoholics, drug addicts or obese, the government says.

<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13152349"><br /></a>The Department for Work and Pensions, which wants to re-assess the UK's 2m claimants, said more than a quarter of the 80,000 had not worked for a decade.<br /><br />Ministers said people must not get "trapped" on welfare.<br /><br />Campaigners said they had serious doubts about whether there was enough support to help people back into work.<br /><br />The figures released by the DWP are a snapshot of incapacity benefit claimants in August 2010. The government wants to re-assess all current incapacity benefit claimants by 2014.<br /><br />There have been pilot projects to determine whether people are fit to work immediately, whether they can begin the process of looking for work with support or whether they need constant care and cannot work.<br /><br />'Trapped'<br />As part of this process, the government has released details of the 81,670 people it says are claiming incapacity benefit - and its successor, employment and support allowance - as a direct result of alcohol, drug and obesity problems.<br /><br />Continue reading the main story<br />“<br />Start Quote<br /><br />Far from being the safety net it should be, the benefits system has trapped thousands of people in a cycle of addiction and welfare dependency ”<br /><br />Chris Grayling<br />Employment minister<br />As of last August, there were 42,360 claimants with alcohol addiction, 37,480 with drug dependency and 1,800 who were obese, officials said.<br /><br />The DWP figures indicate that 12,800 alcoholics and 9,200 drug addicts have been claiming the benefit for more than a decade, as well as about 600 people considered obese.<br /><br />Employment minister Chris Grayling said the problem needed to be addressed, both for the claimants and society as a whole.<br /><br />Welfare reforms<br />"It is not fair on anyone for this situation to continue," he said. "Far from being the safety net it should be, the benefits system has trapped thousands of people in a cycle of addiction and welfare dependency with no prospect of getting back to work.<br /><br />"All of those are conditions which are treatable, which are able to be overcome if we give people the right support."<br /><br />Mr Grayling said private and voluntary organisations had agreed to invest £580m in treating addicts and preparing them for employment.<br /><br /><br />Stereotyping IB claimants won't help them find work. The government has to stop over-simplifying welfare. ”<br /><br />Disability charity Scope<br />Q&A: Incapacity benefit crackdown<br />They will be only be paid by the government when their clients return to work - using money saved from giving them benefits, he said.<br /><br />Ministers launched what they said was the largest back-to-work programme in modern history earlier this month as part of reforms designed to make work pay and simplify the benefits system.<br /><br />Alcohol awareness campaigners welcomed the aim of helping people to give up drink and get back to work but warned removing benefits from vulnerable people risked making their situation worse.<br /><br />Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said he was concerned the government was not prepared to commit enough funds to tackle a shortage of treatment facilities for those with addictions.<br /><br />And he told the BBC: "I would imagine that the vast majority would find it quite difficult to go back into the workplace because, first of all, how many employers would take on someone who's been out of work for two or three years because they've been drinking?<br /><br />"Secondly, the very stressful nature of being in the workplace environment means that for people who are heavily dependent on alcohol it would be difficult for some people to hold down a job."<br /><br />And a spokesman for the disability charity Scope, said: "Stereotyping IB claimants won't help them find work. The government has to stop over-simplifying welfare.<br /><br />"It needs to acknowledge that disabled people face multiple, complex barriers to finding jobs and build an assessment and support system based in reality. Otherwise their admirable aim of getting disabled people into work will fail."<br /><br />Labour said the government's economic policy was self-defeating because spending cuts would increase unemployment levels and push up the benefits bill by £12bn.<br /><br />"The real problem now is the Tories' decision to cut too far and too fast has meant that unemployment is set to increase every year," said shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne.<br /><br />"With five people now chasing every job, what we need to get people off benefits and paying tax is more jobs."</p>

80,000 people in Britain claim incapacity benefit because they are alcoholics, drug addicts or obese, the government says.

The Department for Work and Pensions, which wants to re-assess the UK's 2m claimants, said more than a quarter of the 80,000 had not wor...

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