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If you're implying that my bottom line is already written, I don't think that's the case. Both of the points I made in response to ChrisHallquist were things that I had already thought of before he posted, so I wasn't just searching for a rebuttal to his points.
If you're implying that the arguments I've made seem to have already convinced me to quit...well, yes. That's why I'm posting here: to find out whether there's anything I'm missing.
Maybe 1 and 2 apply to entertainment in general, but I think there are a few things that make porn different:
- I suspect porn is in some way "more" of a superstimulus than most other forms of entertainment. At least for me, it seems to tap into a more visceral response. I don't know of any research about this, but that doesn't mean I should ignore that intuition.
- Many other forms of entertainment have plausible other benefits (albeit often minor). Reading fiction could plausibly improve your language ability and empathy. Gaming often has a social component or a skill-building component (even if that skill doesn't transfer to anything else or only transfers to other games). TV and movies may have some similar benefits to reading. All of them have the advantage of giving you topics to discuss with other people, whereas socially discussing the last porn you watched is usually not a good idea.
In addition, "quit porn" may be an easier rule to follow than "cut back on superstimuli (but don't quit any of them entirely)."
I've been thinking about whether it's a good idea to quit porn (not masturbation, just porn). Does anyone have anything to add to the below?
Reasons not to quit:
- It's difficult, which may cause stress and willpower depletion, though these effects would probably only be temporary.
- It is pleasurable (i.e. valued just as a "fun" activity. This should be compared to alternative pleasurable activities, though, because any "porn time" can be replaced with "other fun things time").
Reasons to quit:
- It's a superstimulus, and might interfere with the brain's reward system in bad ways. http://yourbrainonporn.com/ has some evidence, though nothing as strong as, say, an RCT studying the effects of quitting porn.
- Time. Any time spent viewing porn is time that could be spent doing other things (not necessarily "working," but other relaxing/pleasurable activities which could have greater advantages. For example, reading fiction has the advantage that you can later talk about what you read with other people).
- Possibility of addiction: I definitely don't think I have a porn addiction, and I doubt I'm likely to progress to one, but obviously it's possible anyway, and my own inside-view on that isn't very safe to go on. From wikipedia:
A study found that 17% of people who viewed pornography on the Internet met criteria for problematic[clarification needed] sexual compulsivity.[9] A survey found that 20–60% of a sample of college-age males who use pornography found it to be problematic.[10] Research on Internet addiction disorder indicates rates may range from 1.5 to 8.2% in Europeans and Americans.[11] Internet pornography users are included in Internet users, and Internet pornography has been shown to be the Internet activity most likely to lead to compulsive disorders.[12]
I haven't viewed porn for about 2 weeks and it hasn't actually been that difficult, so I'm trying to decide whether I should just commit to quitting it completely. Right now I'm leaning toward quitting -- viewing porn might be harmful, and it's almost certainly not beneficial, so there's a higher expected value from quitting for anybody who doesn't assign much higher utility to the fun from porn than the fun from alternative activities.
For completeness, I should also mention the "nofap" movement. The anecdotes on there are the same sort of things you'd find when reading about homeopathy or juice fasts, though, so those can be mostly ignored.