‘It stole my soul’: readers on how watching porn at a young age affected their life

Intense shock, addiction and losing interest in other activities are some of readers' experiences

• A fifth of teenagers watch porn frequently and some are addicted, UK study finds
• A psychologist's guide to talking to teens about online porn

Sam was 14 when he stumbled across pornography while looking for Pokemon on his Nintendo DS. I chatted to people while playing video games and connected with others who were interested in the same porn," he recalls.

We would all share links. The scary thing is you didn't know how old anyone really was. I made one friend and it turned out later that we were both lying, pretending to be 18."