The awkward way I learned mobile porn is taking over smartphones

I had left my phone at home, and while I knew the name of the place, I just couldn't remember the exact cross streets.

So I asked the driver if I could borrow his phone to look up the address. He kindly obliged and handed me his Samsung device.

Now, to be honest, I'm not exactly Android savvy. So instead of opening the maps app (because I couldn't find it), I opened his internet browsing app and much to my surprise I was looking at a very, um, "intimate" scene in an adult video that just so happened to be set in what appeared to be a cab.

I'm no prude, but I dropped the phone, and had him drop me off anywhere on Houston Street.

I don't know if he knew that I knew, but the moment was awkward. 

Are people just strolling/driving around this city watching porn?

Yes, according to a recent report from the digital market research firm Juniper.

Online porn consumption in general is going up. Increasingly, viewers' platform of choice is mobile.  

On average, each smartphone owner will watch 348 porn videos this year (both on mobile and desktop), according to the research. And more than half (51%) of adult video views will be on mobile this year, which is up from 48% last year, according to Juniper. 

This isn't surprising considering that the same trend is happening for video streaming in general. It makes sense that as our mobile devices become better connected, people will consume more than just YouTube videos. 

But is instant access to porn wherever and whenever people want a good thing? Who benefits? Does it really matter? 

The latest episode of "Codebreaker," our new podcast produced with Marketplace, asks "is porn evil?" After my experience in the cab, I wouldn't say yes, but it is changing social norms far quicker than I thought. But decide for yourself by listening here, or subscribing on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

In this excerpt, Cadie Thompson tells host Ben Johnson just how much of the internet is porn: