That's a question that only you can answer, nikolagomaz02. However, you might want to start with why you think that you're addicted to it. If you really mean that you're using it as an avoidance mechanism, so you don't have to deal with a real relationship, then that's not an addiction. That's a choice.
the eternal issue, I am also addicted to porn and even so I have a normal life and I interact with people out there. There will always be people who will make you feel bad or that you are wrong about something that you like and enjoy. If watching porn doesn't prevent you from working, eating or sleeping, I don't see what the fucking problem is ...
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ShelbyGordan Deactivated User
422 Posts 6/20
Posted - Feb 20 2021 : 1:59PM
Hey thank you for posting this. I felt every word you put here. I face this similar thing people make me feel bad because I watch alot of porn but even though I do watch a lot of porn it doesn't stop me from going to work or eating I love eating while watching porn. I sleep pretty well, I'm not using porn at work I only use it at home where I live by myself.
Hi! I can say that I am a kind of addicted to porno too. I love watching it after work in the garden sitting in my chair..but there is nothing wrong with it, as it still doesn't disturb me from doing other things. It is just an evening pleasure.
He gave himself to the river and it carried him away 213 Posts 8/17
Posted - Apr 20 2021 : 10:40AM
There's no such thing as porn addiction. People can develop bad habits with porn, as they can with almost anything in life, but bad habits aren't necessarily addictions, and if it's not interfering with the rest of your life-work, friends, family, etc.-then it's just a hobby like anything else and not even a problem. People feeling they're addicted typically comes from social stigmas around sex, porn, and masturbation, and not from actual medical facts about what constitutes actual addiction.
^ "There's no such thing" or you merely don't consider there to be?
Your denial appears to be predicated on an assumption that the OP only has bad habits and that there aren't others affected by their compulsion, none of which the OP clarified.
He gave himself to the river and it carried him away 213 Posts 8/17
Posted - Apr 22 2021 : 11:08AM
There's no such thing as in there's no such thing: it's not in the DSM, there's no evidence that it exists (compared with actually addictive substances like alcohol) and the vast majority of psychologists specializing in sex don't think it exists. Dr. Debra Soh did her PhD thesis on problematic porn use-cases where people would watch porn for 8-12 hours a day-and found that it was the result of procrastination, not addiction.
I wasn't commenting on the OP specifically with the bad habit/problematic part, just speaking in general to distinguish such a thing from actual addiction. IME, the vast majority of guys self diagnosing porn addiction don't even have bad habits, they just think normal sexual habits are bad because of various social stigmas.
^ I had the feeling you would rely on the DSM or a similar reference. Don't you think the fact that there are revisions and definitional changes indicates the notion that "there's no such thing" isn't set in stone?
Let us not ignore the fact that research funding had been denied to those whose diagnosis relied exclusively on a later edition of the DSM due to apparent flaws in the way data was collected.
Female hysteria was once a recognized and accepted medical condition...
He gave himself to the river and it carried him away 213 Posts 8/17
Posted - Apr 23 2021 : 2:24AM
^ The fact that there are revisions to the DSM is just how science in general works: we learn new things and update our beliefs based on that; but that doesn't mean we should take seriously every possibility without evidence. There is no evidence for porn being addictive, and given how many people watch porn that would be quite strange if it existed. So I'm quite comfortable saying it doesn't exist in the same way I'm comfortable saying unicorns don't exist, and as any good Bayesian I will change my mind if any good evidence presents itself. So far all I've seen is a lot of self-diagnosing and claims from non-experts, often supported by terrible evidence in the form of propaganda, typically from conservative/religious sources.
On a related point is this: The claim that when men watch porn regularly they become bored with regular porn and will always end up looking for more and more extreme acts. The 'desensitisation' claim. This is almost always just stated as fact. (To the point where I just assumed it would happen to me - and was surprised when it wasn't.)
I think it stems from the fact that most research into porn is really just confirmation bias. People start with the conclusion that porn is evil/harmless, and then go looking for anything that supports that, while disregarding anything that doesn't.
He gave himself to the river and it carried him away 213 Posts 8/17
Posted - Apr 24 2021 : 1:43PM
^ Absolutely. The "desensitization" never happened to me either. I still get off on vanilla porn all the time, and I eventually realized that the "extremity" of the sex act isn't a component of what turns me on; but different people are turned on by different thing and I think what some term "desensitization" is really just people finding their own turn-ons.
I think actual scientifically rigorous research into porn is fine, but the problem is there's far too little of it, and too much of what's out there has been cherrypicked and corrupted by propaganda websites. Anyone who's scientifically literate can read the research that's often cited on those websites and immediately see the problems-a major one is the failure to distinguish between correlation and causation-but they're banking on people NOT being scientifically literate and being gullible and prone to confirmation bias, and that's precisely what most people are.
I think the actual meaning of the term addiction needs to be defined. Using something to escape from reality does not mean it is an addiction. People use all kinds of things to not have to deal with real life issues: television, reading, exercising, eating/dieting,... that doesn't mean any of those things are a physical/psychological addiction.
The "addiction" model has been highly successful for anti-porn crusaders in large part because of those stigmas. Religious organizations such as Fight the New Drug used to use visual rhetoric such as syringes in their "fact" sheets and state quite bluntly that porn is as addictive as crack. These organizations have distanced themselves from their religious origins and shifted away from such direct analogies in favour of more subtle messaging but the ideas remain the same. Unsurprisingly, recent peer-reviewed research shows self-diagnosed porn addiction has some connection to religious beliefs and associated feelings of shame. Research also shows that perceived addiction is related to relationship anxiety. So, you're right but it's important to note that "normal sexual habits" become "abnormal" or in some way unmanageable or unethical (done in secret, the person lies to their partner and breaks promises, results in abandoning responsibilities, etc) because of the stigma and shame. It likely looks and feels like a problem to everyone involved because the "normal" impulse is met via strategies that violate agreements and involve deception. In other words, there *is* a problem, but it's not "addiction" to porn.
He gave himself to the river and it carried him away 213 Posts 8/17
Posted - Jun 6 2021 : 9:00AM
^ 100% agree with everything you said there. I do think there's such a thing as people having problems with and (partially) because of porn-like people who have difficulty performing with partners because they've gotten so used to only being aroused by porn-but I think people are way too loose and casual with the term addiction and all the negativity that word entails. Like I know the "your brain on porn" guy has said that withdrawn and tolerance aren't needed to call something an addiction; but anyone who's experienced the horrors of someone withdrawing from alcohol or benzos knows how serious it is, and one of the things that makes addiction so horrific. Further, most addictions are to things that can actually kill you from taking too much, which is why tolerance is so important. It's almost like people don't even recognize what's so bad about most addictions and why porn usage, even when it's excessive, is very different from those things.
Tiny Khloe: 2026 Exxxotica Interview
Posted - Feb 3 2021 : 12:27AM
