Did porn save our lives?

Answer to OP. NO. But porn made us self aware. We are waking up now. Good question though. We are waking up. Any one reading this, time to wake up. Wake up.

 

Great post. I agree with every point, good points too.

I will just add a little bit.

While you are right that most of us were probably ashamed of our pornography use and hid it from certain others (e.g. our parents), it was also very normalised in other sectors of life. Our friends probably bragged about it, comedians would joke about it, doctors and authorities would often talk about it as acceptable, if not outright good, and we didn't have a tangible reason for understanding it as bad. So your point about neglecting our conscience is true, but I think that part of the problem is that the normalisation of pornography creates a conflict of conscience.

About alcohol, at least it facilitates a social experience. Pornography is very much antisocial and isolating, whereas alcohol has more positives.

Actually, one thing I might disagree on is who the primary contributors are. Maybe it's a meaningless distinction, but I place a lot of blame with the institutions and authorities that normalise it. They are supposed to be the responsible ones after all.

 

Perhaps we should stop giving porn magical qualities, that have incredible, life altering and mystical effects on ones life, good or bad.
Pornography has effects, but they are rather small and far from life defining.
Drinking coffee or eating sugar or eating junk food has far more significant long term effects on your body than porn use.

 

OK, I can agree with the statement. Because porn has destructive life-altering effects, but they are neither magical nor mystical. You are the first to call them that.

How severe these effects are depends on how deep you are into it, and on your life's general circumstances. It can range from barely noticeable to total destruction of lives and families, even suicide. As the addiction grows, you will gravitate towards the more destructive effects. I've yet to hear about anything positive coming from porn use though - it's always, to some degree, destructive.

Ridiculous comparison, and also wrong. You do consider your mind part of your body, right? Anything can be done in excess, but not everything is inherently destructive. I can have coffee/sugar/fast-food from time to time, but not porn from time to time without some destructive or addictive effects.

 

Porn can have destructive effects as much as drinking coca-cola can have destructive effects, and i am sure we can find a way to link consumption of coca-cola to suicide, depression and demolition of families.
Anything can be presented as destructive evil by playing with context.
Real danger is that people fall in to the game of blaming, and get transfixed on the idea that something is destroying their lives. They find something they think is the culprit of all their failures and then play with context to see it as the cause of all their problems.

You do not hear about anything positive coming from porn use you should accept the fact that you have a strong bias, which causes you to ignore and dismiss anything you would deem as positive. Every coin has two sides.
I do not support abuse of porn but I remain objective about it.

 

I have addressed that in my post. I fully understand the dangers and deadliness of unhealthy lifestyles, but if you really believe coca cola and porn belong into the same category I consider you delusional. I'm not coming from some hypothetical philosophical position of "ifs" and "coulds", I'm coming from a position of common sense and reality.

Give an example then? Not everything "has two sides", and I think we are already over this type of argumentation with the examples of alcoholism etc.

 

In absolutely no way is this possibly true. Porn does the exact opposite — sucks you away from real life, real relationships, real experiences, real emotions (it wrecks your brain), and it keeps you at this treacherous stage. After about a week of NoFap, one will have more energy, more attractiveness, more attention from others, better cognitive processing, better moods, and so much more. Pornography damns us to a dull, unfulfilling and unhappy life.

Porn isn't like giving "oxygen" to patients. It is more like a gas mask that gives you smoke mixed with some oxygen-filled air, polluting your lungs and breathing capacity. Eventually you are very dependent on the "life-support" and your life is worse off than if you hadn't used it. If I am in a time of crisis, porn may be a temporary salve — but I would be able to face my difficulties better with a clear, resolved conscience than with the muddy and confused state of mind I get when expelling my energy in return for a pitiful amount of pleasure. However, it is true PMO causes depression. That's why we are all are happier without it.

Therefore, porn isn't "medication," unless you mean it in the same way how the addictive and corrupting depression pharmaceuticals are called "medication." Trust me, I have relatives who've been on that stuff for decades and their bodies (perhaps even lives) are greatly damaged by it. Like depression pharmaceuticals, porn may temporarily make you feel "happy" and not depressed for a few minutes, but it's only part of the problem, causing extra depression later and slowly eating away at one's composure and energy.

 

No and don't ever say that. Sure it felt good at times, but it has destroyed my life and in no way has helped me.

 

If you can not see a connection between people abusing sugar drinks and destroying their health and people abusing pornography and destroying their mental health, and nether wanting to stop, that does not make me delusional. That makes you unimaginative.

 

I would agree with that to a degree but at the same time we need to learn to control our emotions and overcome difficulties without substance/porn abuse.

 

The difference between sugar drinks and pornography is that as humans, one of our main drives is sex. Pornography releases a huge amount of hormones and chemicals into the brain that creates a false sense of that euphoric love we all want with a partner, then once we wake up to reality we realize how much of a loner we are because we didn't share that feeling with someone else, we just abused someone else's image for our own pleasure. That's why pornography is on such a larger plane than things like caffeine. Caffeine just tastes good and gives you a boost for a short time (and yes it can definitely become addictive), while pornography gives you this powerful feeling that is supposed to be used for connection and bonds with someone you are in love with but is highly misused and misdirected. But yes, I see the connection. However, pornography is much more damaging to anyone looking for healthy relationships. I can have healthy relationships and drink coke all day, even though it isn't the best for my health.

 

Why do you think pornography is more damaging than something else? How such a specific conclusion be made?
How can you definitively compare effects of damage from too much sugar consumption to effects from abuse of pornography? Both have negative effects, and may shorten ones life sognificantly but no specific, definitive conclusion can be made even if we fully understood effects of each one, we have at best general understanding and yet you sound very sure that one is much worse than the other.
All I see is bias, anything that goes along with that bias is phrased and anything that does not is dismissed.
Majority of people interact with pornography and have healthy fulfilling relationships with their partners, we know that.
Some people begin abusing pornography and maybe they do so because they struggle to have healthy relationships, and that seems to be the case.

We know from research that isolation and childhood problems make people more likely to both have social problems and more likely to abuse.
Ideology that everyone is wonderful and amazing until they interact with porn after which they "fall and cant get up until they stop" is deception.
People in healthy relationships cant abuse without member of their close family and friends noticing and immediately taking action. Deep relationships protect us from abuse.
You must be highly isolated to maintain abuse for a long time which by default means you do not have strong, deep and loving relationships or close friends.
Lack of purpose, trust and inability to form deep relationships is the current epidemic among young people, there can be no dobt that abuse will follow.

 

You make an interesting point. I agree porn has done us no help, but if we didn't go to porn with the experiences as an escape, maybe we would have gone to drink or drugs which is a more risky lifestyle and could have ended up with us dead from overdose or increasing risky behaviour.