Is intermittent porn use more damaging than daily use?

1-3 hours is just the time I usually allow access to it. It doesn't mean I am actually on it for the entire 1-3 hours. Actually more recently when I have been ending up on it these days it's usually more 20-30 minutes, then my better thinking is kicking in and I am blocking it again, and then I am going between 2-4 weeks until I end up on it again. 1-3 hours is just the time I usually allow access to it. But like I said more recently I am only ending up on it once for 20-30 minutes. My better thinking is usually kicking in after the first relapse, and then I am blocking the porn and artificial sexual stimulation again.

I am starting to fall in to a pattern that I am basically never binging, and the way I see it this is huge progress.

I know myself how much better I feel these days compared to how I used to feel. How much less addicted I feel compared to how addicted I used to be. How much better the PIED is.

Fair enough I am maybe getting away from porn and artificial stimulation in a different way from many other guys on here. But none the less I am still getting results, and experiencing results.

I am nothing compared to how I used to be. The level of addiction I used to have. The amount I used to PMO, edging and binging. The severe PIED I used to have. It's honestly like night and day how much better all of that is now.

I would probably be much more concerned if I actually felt negative effects from doing what I am doing these days. But the truth is I don't. I don't seem to be experiencing much, if any negative effects that I notice. This is completely different to how it used to be. I used to experience extreme negatives from my PMO use. But again back then I was much more addicted and I had been chronically using it constantly for about a decade.

I'm not actually using porn and artificial sexual stimulation like an addict for the most part these days. It's for very short periods of times, and it hardly ever happens. This is not addict behaviour.

I'd probably be more serious about my recovery if I actually experienced negative effects from very occasionally using porn and artificial sexual stimulation for short periods of time. But like I said I don't seem to be experiencing any negative effects that I notice from the way I have been using porn and artificial sexual stimulation over the last while.

But as I said I used to experience extreme negative effects from my PMO use, and I actually feel like this was the main driving force behind me being determined to stop it altogether. But because with the way I am using it these days, and basically experiencing no negative effects that I notice, I guess I am not anywhere near as motivated at thinking I need to stop it altogether.

I'd probably be agreeing much more with everything you're saying if I actually felt bad from what I am doing, and if I was experiencing negative effects from what I am doing. But because I'm not it's quite difficult for me to agree with you.

 

The thing is I actually felt so bad for so long because of my chronic PMO use, that now feeling somewhat neutral is actually a major improvement to me.

I genuinely think the only reason I am really returning to it these days is because I don't really have that much going on in my life at the moment. There's nothing to really look forward to, and this lockdown and restrictions are not helping with that.

Like I don't have an urge for an entire week. An urge to use porn and artificial sexual stimulation is something that randomly comes and goes. It's not exactly there for an entire week. So I believe me allowing porn and artificial sexual stimulation and then needing to wait an entire week to get the porn and artificial somewhat gives me some excitement in my life at the moment. Which I know is kind of sad.

Another issue that I have mentioned is after not seeing literally anything for 2,3,4 weeks, it begins to make the idea of getting on that super appealing and exciting. Which I guess is what some guys are talking about when they say intermittent use is an addiction risk.

Sometimes when I haven't seen anything like that in like a month, and when I allow it, and it is counting down from 7 days until I am going to be able to get it, I would say this feeling somewhat reminds me of the feeling I used to get counting down the days until Christmas when I was a child. Getting excited counting down the days until I am going to be able to get it. Like I said when I actually end up on it a lot of the time it is actually a disappointment these days. I usually get bored of it quick. But it seems to be the anticipation of getting it after not seeing anything like that in a while that seems to cause an exciting feeling. It gives me something to look forward to. Which I know is sad.

Like I said, I honestly think if I had more going on in my life I could actually near stop going on it altogether these days. But the issue is literally having next to nothing to do, and next to nothing to look forward to. I believe this is the main problem these days.

Another thing I have noticed before is the more social contact I have with other people somewhat seems to motivate me to want to stop porn and artificial sexual stimulation even more for some reason. I have noticed this. The more I am around other people in real life, the more this seems to make me want to stop porn and artificial sexual stimulation.

But now these days social contact is a luxury. So I am now living a very reclusive lifestyle I guess, and I do feel like this isn't helping to motivate me to stop the porn and artificial sexual stimulation altogether.

 

Yeah this is the problem. If you have unlimited access then it is unlikely you will be able to moderately use it. So I wouldn't recommend trying to use it moderately. Your best just trying to stop it altogether.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. Was it just one slip? Or was it a binge?

Tbh I have decided I am going to try to take this more seriously again.

For a while I was intentionally planning on using porn and artificial sexual stimulation on very odd occasions thinking this was ok. But I have changed my mind about doing this. I have decided to go back to a stricter mindset.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you're feeling better now.

Tbh I rarely notice much negative effects from my PMO use unless I am doing it regularly or it is a binge.

Something I think I have been quite guilty of doing over the last while is basically letting my erections decide how strict my mindset is.

So over the last while the majority of the time I honestly feel like I don't have PIED anymore. So when I have been feeling low, bored, having nothing to look forward to I have basically thought I don't have PIED, so why not just plan on going on porn and artificial sexual stimulation for a short period of time in a week?

But I think over the last while the amount I have been doing it has been gradually increasing. So I have gradually been doing it more days of the month, and sessions have sometimes been getting slightly longer. So I have decided to be stricter about this again. I have asked myself why do I even need it at all.

 

Yeah I think any of us are going to be much happier in a months time, 2 months time, 3 months time, a years time if we haven't used it, as apposed to being on it regularly. But as you say a lot of the time we want it here and now.

Something I am quite guilty of is I seem to need to experience negative effects from it to make me go into a strict mindset about stopping it completely. So when I have been off it a while I almost forget how bad it is. Also like I said when I am only using it moderately after a while I can't say that I notice any negative effects from this.

I was looking at my calendars the other day and I could see a gradual increase in use over the last few months, and this has sort of made me go more into a stricter mindset again.

I seem to do well at whatever I am obsessed about. I think this could be caused by my ocd. The more worried I am about something, the more obsessed I am about something. So when I am more worried about my porn addiction, this actually causes me to have a much stricter mindset. But when I am off the porn and artificial sexual stimulation longer, and even when I do return to it I am not really experiencing negative effects, I must admit this makes me feel more relaxed, which then makes me not worried or obsessed. I think this is how my usage was beginning to gradually increase over the last few months.

But the other morning I did actually notice some erection issues again, which made me worry a bit. Then I started looking through my calendars, and I could notice a gradual increase in use. I noticed my streaks were getting slightly shorter, and my overall usage was gradually increasing. So this has put me into a stricter mindset where I am determined to get a longer streak.

 

I was the same. I would say I was in a PMO binge that lasted about a decade. What I mean by that is more days than not I was heavily edging and binging on PMO and that went on for about a decade. There was probably hardly any days in a decade I wasn't PMOing at least once. But most days were edging and binging sessions, and like I said that went on for about a decade.

I know I keep saying it, but I honestly believe I was in a PMO binge that lasted about a decade.

It's took me two and a half years to drastically reduce my PMO usage. Obviously I try to stop it altogether, but I do sometimes relapse.

But to me there is no question that ending up on it very occasionally now and again is no where near as harmful as what my behaviour used to be like on it. There is no contest how much worse I used to feel because of how my behaviour used to be on PMO.

So yeah through my own personal experience there is no question that intermittent porn use is no where near as damaging as daily use. I don't need to read anything or listen to anybody telling me different. I am explaining my reasons why I think daily use is much worse than intermittent use through my own personal experience, through my 10 years of chronically using PMO, and my last 2 years of intermittently using PMO. I know which one feels a million times worse.