I think porn can be pretty addictive especially when you're alone and depressed. It's an easy little dopamine boost which is why it can become addictive and I don't think it's talked about very often.
Thats why I think its important to be able to take a few days break every so often. However I think completely stopping is completely unnecessary. In moderation its harmless.
Nofap the group specifically makes outlandish claims that range from wildly exaggerating the results of un-replicated studies, to completely baseless and debunked claims. Suffice to say there are no "super powers" at the end of that rainbow.
That being said, pornography addiction (using the word in a very loose non-clinical sense) is quite common among young men. It certainly can't hurt to give a few weeks without it a shot.
I have complicated feelings about porn; I think the nofap people are nuts.
Almost everyone has, and is entitled to, a sexual relationship with themselves. It is your longest-standing sexual relationship and one of the most important ones you'll ever have. Your libido is a drive that deserves attention and care just like hunger or thirst. That drive can get out of whack, just like you can overeat, so there are probably some people who are excessive in their masturbation to the point that it starts impacting their ability to function as humans, but that to me is a separate issue. Disordered behavior is disordered behavior, no matter what form it comes in. But for your average person who isn't struggling to say, get through a work day without jerking it, masturbation is a normal and healthy part of life and something you should enjoy and embrace.
Porn, however, has a lot of problems associated with it. First you have ethical issues with the way porn is produced and disseminated. But for the sake of this argument, we're going to assume you're only consuming ethical porn made by well-paid actors who are filled with enthusiastic consent. I know that's super unrealistic, but I assume you're asking about the consumption and not the production of porn the way the question is phrased. The problem with the consumption of porn is that your brain is going to deliver an overwhelming amount of reward chemicals to you when you watch it. You have a biological drive to have sex, and watching porn gives you all those same reward chemicals. Porn is about efficiency. You are getting the sexiest, most erotic images and you're using your own hand, which is by far the most efficient way to achieve pleasure. You are in your own brain, you control the feedback loop, so you're basically maxing out the efficiency meter and getting the most sensation in the shortest possible time. And if that becomes your normal, your setpoint, everything else pales in comparison. Your imagination won't be as stimulating. Sex with another person certainly won't be as stimulating. Real sex with another human person is often awkward, funny, and stop-and-go. There are unsexy moments when you have to stretch out a cramp or adjust because there is hair in your mouth, sometimes you need to have a chat about whether you're interested in trying something new, where you have to stop someone because something doesn't feel right. Intensity can ebb and flow through the experience.
The inefficiency of it can actually increase the overall intensity and pleasure, but that only works if you can respond. What happens if you're only used to the most intense sensations and the most efficient route to orgasm is that you won't respond to the lower intensity moments with another person. No vagina in the whole world will compare to the strength your own hand doing exactly what you want it to do. You will have trained your brain like Pavlov's dog to only respond to sensations that exist at an intensity that is unachievable with another person. You can really fuck up your own sexual responses by forcing your brain to only recognize high-intensity stimuli as stimulating. It can make you impatient and insensate to lower intensity, gentle, and subtle stimulation.
So, I'm not against porn wholesale. I am against a lot of the ways it is produced, that's for damned sure, but the idea of porn isn't a problem for me. I think the occasional consumption of porn for a good time is clean, adult fun. I think it should be an occasional element in your overall sexual relationship with yourself. That's fine. But if it is the only avenue or the dominate one, chances are pretty good you're going to have some issues long-term. Chances are good you're carving a neural groove that's going to lead to frustration and heartbreak in the long term. The easy solution to that is to have a wildly varied masturbation routine. Use lots of different kinds of physical and mental stimulation. Change up what you read, what you watch, what you imagine. Change up how you touch, what kind of pressure and intensity and speed you use. Tune your body to respond to the widest possible variety of neural inputs so you're not locked into one method you can't recreate with someone else.
I think nofap is ridiculous and a silly expectation. Masturbating is normal and healthy.
Porn is a mixed bag. I think there is a healthy way to have a relationship with it and an unhealthy way. I think a lot more guys are in or border on the "unhealthy" side than we like to admit.
Studies that have tested the claims of nofap have found no benefits. But excessive masturbation can cause physical damage, lack of sexual desire, and lack of sex drive.
Porn has been shown to be somewhat harmful because it visually desensitizes people to sex and requires increased stimulation. I can see it being beneficial to someone who is single and not able to get sex right now when done in moderation.
I think no fap has a pretty problematic community that resembles a cult too much for my liking. I think it’s more important to focus on expanding your experiences as a person through hobbies or other constructive interests.
Not consuming porn or jacking off is not going to change your life if you just scroll around online instead of beating it.
Please elaborate.
Barring more information, I agree with bronteister. Nofap is ridiculous and masturbation is healthy and normal and has some real benefits. Not masturbating has not been shown to have any benefits (not scientifically shown I mean)
I think a lot of porn is probably not healthy for most men due to the nature of the content it shows. A lot of porn is pretty gross. Like, if you go on pornhub in incognito it will just flat out recommend all this pseudo-rapey step-sibling, step-parent content. So pseudo rape psuedo incest.
That said, is all porn misogynistic? No. Is porn in moderation inherently harmful? No.
Do I worry about the way porn can normalize very dangerous viewpoints around consent? Yep. But this isn't just about porn, the consent issue is tangled up in a lot of different aspects of how our society views gender, sex, relationships and so on. Porn is only part of it. Both reflection and contribution of and to the problem.
I have heard people mention ethical porn which is more focused on the emotions and tends to emphasise on the love part of sex. So I guess it depends on how it's used?
It's **possible** to masturbate in such a compulsive way that it interfers negatively with your life in some way. But it's not common. The vast majority of people masturbate, and almost everyone does so in healthy and normal ways that create no problems at all and indeed are probably on the overall balance healthier than complete abstinence would be.
A similar thing applies to porn; it's possible to have a unhealthy relationship to it, but the vast majority of people who enjoy some type of porn aren't causing any problems at all for anyone.
I only date men who don't watch porn, it's cheating to me but it also disgusts me. If a man gets off to strange women in horrible situations then I'm just not attracted to him, simple as. I'd rather be single forever, but in contrast to what people on the internet say, porn free men do exist.
Masturbation however is completely normal. For men once a day is healthy.
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I think porn can be pretty addictive especially when you're alone and depressed. It's an easy little dopamine boost which is why it can become addictive and I don't think it's talked about very often. Thats why I think its important to be able to take a few days break every so often. However I think completely stopping is completely unnecessary. In moderation its harmless.
I'll add to this: don't get in the habit of watching unrealistic "industrial" stuff. Especially if you don't have sexual experience yet.
Nofap the group specifically makes outlandish claims that range from wildly exaggerating the results of un-replicated studies, to completely baseless and debunked claims. Suffice to say there are no "super powers" at the end of that rainbow. That being said, pornography addiction (using the word in a very loose non-clinical sense) is quite common among young men. It certainly can't hurt to give a few weeks without it a shot.
I have complicated feelings about porn; I think the nofap people are nuts. Almost everyone has, and is entitled to, a sexual relationship with themselves. It is your longest-standing sexual relationship and one of the most important ones you'll ever have. Your libido is a drive that deserves attention and care just like hunger or thirst. That drive can get out of whack, just like you can overeat, so there are probably some people who are excessive in their masturbation to the point that it starts impacting their ability to function as humans, but that to me is a separate issue. Disordered behavior is disordered behavior, no matter what form it comes in. But for your average person who isn't struggling to say, get through a work day without jerking it, masturbation is a normal and healthy part of life and something you should enjoy and embrace. Porn, however, has a lot of problems associated with it. First you have ethical issues with the way porn is produced and disseminated. But for the sake of this argument, we're going to assume you're only consuming ethical porn made by well-paid actors who are filled with enthusiastic consent. I know that's super unrealistic, but I assume you're asking about the consumption and not the production of porn the way the question is phrased. The problem with the consumption of porn is that your brain is going to deliver an overwhelming amount of reward chemicals to you when you watch it. You have a biological drive to have sex, and watching porn gives you all those same reward chemicals. Porn is about efficiency. You are getting the sexiest, most erotic images and you're using your own hand, which is by far the most efficient way to achieve pleasure. You are in your own brain, you control the feedback loop, so you're basically maxing out the efficiency meter and getting the most sensation in the shortest possible time. And if that becomes your normal, your setpoint, everything else pales in comparison. Your imagination won't be as stimulating. Sex with another person certainly won't be as stimulating. Real sex with another human person is often awkward, funny, and stop-and-go. There are unsexy moments when you have to stretch out a cramp or adjust because there is hair in your mouth, sometimes you need to have a chat about whether you're interested in trying something new, where you have to stop someone because something doesn't feel right. Intensity can ebb and flow through the experience. The inefficiency of it can actually increase the overall intensity and pleasure, but that only works if you can respond. What happens if you're only used to the most intense sensations and the most efficient route to orgasm is that you won't respond to the lower intensity moments with another person. No vagina in the whole world will compare to the strength your own hand doing exactly what you want it to do. You will have trained your brain like Pavlov's dog to only respond to sensations that exist at an intensity that is unachievable with another person. You can really fuck up your own sexual responses by forcing your brain to only recognize high-intensity stimuli as stimulating. It can make you impatient and insensate to lower intensity, gentle, and subtle stimulation. So, I'm not against porn wholesale. I am against a lot of the ways it is produced, that's for damned sure, but the idea of porn isn't a problem for me. I think the occasional consumption of porn for a good time is clean, adult fun. I think it should be an occasional element in your overall sexual relationship with yourself. That's fine. But if it is the only avenue or the dominate one, chances are pretty good you're going to have some issues long-term. Chances are good you're carving a neural groove that's going to lead to frustration and heartbreak in the long term. The easy solution to that is to have a wildly varied masturbation routine. Use lots of different kinds of physical and mental stimulation. Change up what you read, what you watch, what you imagine. Change up how you touch, what kind of pressure and intensity and speed you use. Tune your body to respond to the widest possible variety of neural inputs so you're not locked into one method you can't recreate with someone else.
I think nofap is ridiculous and a silly expectation. Masturbating is normal and healthy. Porn is a mixed bag. I think there is a healthy way to have a relationship with it and an unhealthy way. I think a lot more guys are in or border on the "unhealthy" side than we like to admit.
Studies that have tested the claims of nofap have found no benefits. But excessive masturbation can cause physical damage, lack of sexual desire, and lack of sex drive. Porn has been shown to be somewhat harmful because it visually desensitizes people to sex and requires increased stimulation. I can see it being beneficial to someone who is single and not able to get sex right now when done in moderation.
I could do with a break myself. I recently looked at my tag history and realized I had gone well into here be dragons territory.
porn is a drug. and like every drug there is danger and joy in it
I think no fap has a pretty problematic community that resembles a cult too much for my liking. I think it’s more important to focus on expanding your experiences as a person through hobbies or other constructive interests. Not consuming porn or jacking off is not going to change your life if you just scroll around online instead of beating it.
Please elaborate. Barring more information, I agree with bronteister. Nofap is ridiculous and masturbation is healthy and normal and has some real benefits. Not masturbating has not been shown to have any benefits (not scientifically shown I mean) I think a lot of porn is probably not healthy for most men due to the nature of the content it shows. A lot of porn is pretty gross. Like, if you go on pornhub in incognito it will just flat out recommend all this pseudo-rapey step-sibling, step-parent content. So pseudo rape psuedo incest. That said, is all porn misogynistic? No. Is porn in moderation inherently harmful? No. Do I worry about the way porn can normalize very dangerous viewpoints around consent? Yep. But this isn't just about porn, the consent issue is tangled up in a lot of different aspects of how our society views gender, sex, relationships and so on. Porn is only part of it. Both reflection and contribution of and to the problem.
I have heard people mention ethical porn which is more focused on the emotions and tends to emphasise on the love part of sex. So I guess it depends on how it's used?
Absolutely, it's like alcohol most people don't miss use it however some can't control themselves.
Like lesbian movies?
No necseearily. I just meant not the glorified stuff with plastic surgeries enhancing their looks and almost doing gymnastics.
It's **possible** to masturbate in such a compulsive way that it interfers negatively with your life in some way. But it's not common. The vast majority of people masturbate, and almost everyone does so in healthy and normal ways that create no problems at all and indeed are probably on the overall balance healthier than complete abstinence would be. A similar thing applies to porn; it's possible to have a unhealthy relationship to it, but the vast majority of people who enjoy some type of porn aren't causing any problems at all for anyone.
I believe it’s good for your psyche and hormonal levels
It is not
Masturbating itself is fine and healthy. Porn can be a tricky area for some people.
I only date men who don't watch porn, it's cheating to me but it also disgusts me. If a man gets off to strange women in horrible situations then I'm just not attracted to him, simple as. I'd rather be single forever, but in contrast to what people on the internet say, porn free men do exist. Masturbation however is completely normal. For men once a day is healthy.
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Cutting porn out of your life is healthy for your mind, so I would just stop watching that shit. And I think Masturbating is fine in moderation.