Q: Why did YOU decide to stop watching porn?

When I first decided to quit porn 5+ years ago it was due to being a socially reclusive virgin with severe ED and confidence problems.

Today I'm at a different place. I don't have ED, I'm in a loving long-term relationship and am doing OK socially as well (even though there is much room for improvement).

I'm kind of figuring out why I'm quitting this time as I'm writing this, but these feel like the top reasons:

• I want to stop spoiling myself with porn. Giving myself an easy distraction from life's problems is certainly not conducive to me doing something about them. It's a kind of band-aid that takes away my motivation to actually try to squeeze some juice from real life because with porn I don't feel allow myself to feel bored or unsatisfied long enough to actually do something about my pains or desires.
• I want to stop doing things I'm not proud of. Now, I don't find mainstream porn use as something to be ashamed of in my society and I don't consider most of it immoral. But regardless I say I'm not proud of it because I see it as an admittance of incompetence to get sex from a real woman (in the very least at the time of porn use if not generally).
• It's a very absorbing fantasy. Fantasy here being used as a negative term. Fantasy contrary to reality and experiences in the outside world. When I remember my experiences in the world they are automatically a part of my story, of what I did. When I use porn though I often waste a lot of time indulging a fantasy (i.e. imagining fucking in all those ways..), in reality, what actually happens is that I spend a bunch of time in front of the computer/phone watching other people fuck.
• It wasted a lot of time. Time that I don't spend productively. Time that I'm not proud of even though I'm not ashamed of porn use per se. So much wasted time influences my self-respect. In fact it makes me respect myself less.

 

Most of my life I was feeling lonely, desperate, apathetic, depressed, etc. I seek for any possible ways to feel better, and it seems like quitting porn is one of them. It's not that I hate porn itself or something like that, but the fact that I am addicted to it, and it makes me feel worse, thus contradicting my goals in life. I try to get rid of all the things that hurt me, and get all the things that make me feel better.

 

Hi @leo da king , agree with all your points except the first. I don't think watching porn is immoral. Why ? Simply because women (or men) depicted there are NOT real women (or men) at all. They're just actors who know and agree 100% to what is being done to them. So morally, I find nothing wrong with watching something being done to someone with their permission.
The problem arises when we extrapolate what we see there to reality. Of course, the makers of such videos might not take the responsibility to inform the viewers to not do what they see at home (for obvious reasons) and this is part of why watching porn leads to your point no. 6. But all in all, if you know what you're really seeing, you should be morally OK.
This is of course, my opinion. I don't mean to criticize or anything.

 

I decided to quit for one simple reason, REGRET.

Regret that I :

• didn't make most of my undergraduate years.
• had substituted all my hobbies for porn and video games.
• was (and still am) devoid of any confidence and incapable of standing up for myself.
• was socially awkward, didn't like meeting people and always lost in my own world.
• was not disciplined, goal-oriented and focused.

and most of all, regret that I didn't know who I really was and what I really wanted out of life.

 

But that's what I said right ? we tend to set our expectations based on what we see (consciously/sub-consciously). But that is not entirely porn's fault. We too have a share in the blame. We believe women/men should be treated in such a way based on what we see. We're not able to differentiate between porn and reality. That's our problem not porn's. I could watch porn and still not expect to have the kind of sex that they're depicting because I know things don't work that way in reality
The question of morality is upto the individual. Like you said, you find it immoral. Like I said, I don't.

 

Yup, they do.

 

Was virgin not long ago, got some issues during sex (couldn't maintain a erection pretty well)... I think is the most conmon reason people comes here... but I actually hate my habits, i barely clean my house, bad eating issues (i bought joylent cuz i m unable to cook).

 

This is actually my main issue. I'm having trouble finding a reason. My brain constantly tries to convince me that nofap is useless and that I might as well succumb to the comforts of PMO.

Deep down I know that's not true, but every day is a constant battle these days.

 

My main motivation to quit porn is mainly that it was ruining my life, affecting my relationships and interactions with other people making it more difficult than it already was not to mention the other harmful effects an addiction to pornography can bring, constant depression for example. Doing so however has been easier said than done for me

 

It deminishes my energy, and less centred and less attractive.

 

Because although porn can give me temporary happiness by watching naked girls having sex but after I masturbated over it and after my semen cums I'll be like why I did that? I would have a very bad conscience.
I would start to say to my self "you are stupid you did something wrong."
I honestly believe it is wrong to watch porn and masturbate over.
It gives me no motivation and no purpose in life.
It'd made me feel that im not respecting women.
It will affect my relationship with people close to me. I would not talk to them or see them.
I feel like I want to just die.
It is a total violation with the nature because it is not nature of a human to watch porn - you dont need to see people having sex it's something very private.
People marry, do sex to have pleasure or have baby and they do that in private never live.
So if you watch something that is suppose to be private in nature you are violating the law of human nature.
And when you do you will carry the consenquences.
Guilt.
Depression.
Unrighteousness.
Sadness.
Loneliness.
No hope.
Would feel like you deserve death.
It's just not the right way to live life.
If you're doing pmo you are not living your life in the right way.
Because doing pmo is wrong.

 

Because I don't want to feel like crap anymore.
Because I want to do so many things in life and I can't because of my addictions
Because I need to find how I get myself in this position
I understand now that porn is result of bad decision in everyday life and I should not only stop watching porn. I should start to make my day better so that I don't fall again in to that shit.

 

Plenty of good points raised already but I’ll go with the below:

Watching porn destroys your self-esteem/motivation

Don’t want the guilt

Quitting gave me the confidence to be more assertive in chasing women in real life

 

Because it's pathetic ... think about it.

Your wasting your sexual energy away to pixels. It messes up your brain creating an chemical inbalance, making you weak. Physically your get drained. You loose your masculine essence. You create an ilusion about sexuality full of lust and performance.

You're contributing to a devil industry. Making bad people wealthy, contributing to the degradation of females.

The question should be: Why should anyone decide to watch porn?

 

Right. Make your day better so to not fall again to pmo.
Have a good day.

 

I was simply disgusted with myself and knew watching it was morally wrong

 

Hope your family will be happy and that you'll be a better person or husband.
Have a great day/night

 

For my partner. Disgusted at myself.