Psychologist and professor emeritus at Stanford University Phillip Zimbardo has made the warnings, which form a major part of his latest book, Man (Dis)Connected.
In an interview on the BBC World Service’s Weekend programme, Zimbardo spoke about the results of his study, an in-depth look into the lives of 20,000 young men and their relationships with video games and pornography.
He said: "Our focus is on young men who play video games to excess, and do it in social isolation – they are alone in their room."
"Now, with freely available pornography, which is unique in history, they are combining playing video games, and as a break, watching on average, two hours of pornography a week."
Zimbardo says there is a "crisis" amongst young men, a high number of whom are experiencing a "new form of addiction" to excessive use of pornography and video games.
Zimbardo gave a TED talk in 2011 outlining the problems facing young men’s social development and academic achievement, which he puts down to excessive use of porn, video games and the internet.
He cited the example of a mother he met while conducting the study whose son does not see the problem in playing video games for up to 15 hours a day.
Zimbardo said: "For me, ‘excess’ is not the number of hours, it’s a psychological change in mindset."
Giving an example of the mindset of a gaming and pornography-addicted young man, he says: "When I’m in class, I’ll wish I was playing World of Warcraft. When I’m with a girl, I’ll wish I was watching pornography, because I’ll never get rejected."
Zimbardo claims that this relatively new phenomenon is affecting the minds of young men.
Citing the research he and his team conducted for the book, he says: "It begins to change brain function. It begins to change the reward centre of the brain, and produces a kind of excitement and addiction."
"What I’m saying is – boys’ brains are becoming digitally rewired."
He also mentioned the growing problem of a disputed phenomenon called ‘porn-induced erectile dysfunction’, or PIED: "Young boys who should be virile are now having a problem getting an erection."
"You have this paradox – they’re watching exciting videos that should be turning them on, and they can’t get turned on."
An article from Psychology Today, however, argues that there are no demonstrable scientific links between porn consumption and erectile dysfunction.
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