Anyone else think they wouldn't be addicted if not for the internet?

I thought the same thing too. I remember watching porn very minimally on a computer or laptop at 12-13 i think. Then on my phone first time when i was 14-15 maybe? But by 15-16 i was addicted for sure. The amount of it accessible is just not good dude especially if your a young kid today where damn near every where you look something sexual is on the screen. I keep saying and i still say it, porn today is molesting the minds of these kids. Especially the type of porn that’s prevalent now. If your a young kid, like preteens and even less and you get exposed to some of these things, and next thing you know your in your teens and entering your 20s a porn addict. But of course you been hooked since a child! I was molested and i know that event has helped in heightening my porn addiction throughout my formative years and its fucked me up emotionally spiritually mentally to this moment. I been contemplating “offing” myself or not wanting to live anymore. Not that ill do anything i wont. Its just living with some of the porn induced choices ive made being not in the right headspace at the time, i feel extremely hopeless guilty regretful and shameful. Sorry for sayin much. Anyway my answer, I dont know how i would be in a time without internet porn completely because i never lived in one, although i know there still those that have, ie grew up in 40s-90s, but no i dont think i would be as addicted to porn today had it not been for the internet.

 

Down to boredom in life

 

The internet is the reality that’s not going away, so unfortunately staying sober means dealing with the awareness that it’s constantly there.

I’m basically an expert on nothing but like to spout my opinions anyway, so here’s one: There’s really no way to know how one might have behaved under a different reality (no internet). You may have ended up at sex shops eventually anyway, but that’s all conjecture.

Point is, it’s natural to be frustrated about the ready and incredibly vast porn jungle on the internet. One way I go is maybe tell myself the internet is not the problem. Maybe even porn is not the problem. It’s always been around. The oldest sculptures unearthed from 11,000 years ago were sexual figures.

Even the incredible power of sex, the drive behind our addiction, isn’t the problem. So what’s the problem, then? Well, maybe that’s easy. The problem is my addiction. Maybe that sounds dumb. I look for some answers for an underlying cause. Well, that’s a long road. I’ve decided to simply focus on my behavior.

Whatever is behind my addiction, the only thing I can control is what I’m doing in the moment. Making the decision to avoid looking at sh*t. The rest I can’t do much about.

Don’t get hung up being pissed at “the internet” or the porn industry or all the other crap we’re tempted to blame for where we find ourselves.

Stay safe out there.

 

I was and still am a shy guy rather. I would never engage in dirty things in real life because its awkward to go to store and pickup a p CD or magazine.
Internet gives anonymity and thats a problem. You dont have to pay and dont need to make eye contact with dealer. All the elements an introvert wants.
So yeah I agree.

 

I think the majority of people in the world today especially the U.S are addicts of porn but we just don’t address it as a society because it’s too for lack of a better word “bad” to talk about. When you look at the numbers of what gets the most hits or traffic on the web, we all know porn is at the very top of that list. We are dealing with a lot of issues in society today but until we admit as collective somethings wrong it wont matter. Thats why its a must the individual me and you stop being part of the problem and pray that causes a ripple effect in others stopping as well.

 

Internet porn is a total different level compared to traditional magazine. It is almost like comparing crack cocaine vs cocoa leafs. Magazines never really caught my attention, but if computers didn't exist, perhaps i would collect magazines instead, who knows.

I agree in a sense, but there is more to it.
Throughout the evolution of humans, access to sex has always been very limited. We had few sexual partners throughout our lives and at best, a few kama sutra pictures or a "sexual figure". That's the reality our brains has evolved to handle. Compare that to internet porn. Within seconds we have access to infinite sexual stimuli of all kinds of flavors, anytime we want to, as long as we want to! This floods our dopamine receptors and tells our brain to fuck like there is no tomorrow. It wouldn't be possible without internet porn, it hijacks our natural instincts by creating a surreal world.

The same thing goes for food addiction. Throughout history, sugar has been a rare commodity to find, that's why our senses tell us to eat plenty of it, because you never know when you come across it again. Today, sugar is everywhere, in ridiculous amounts. This also kidnaps our natural survival instincts and accelerates addictive behaviors.

My point is that i agree that the problem is my addiction but highly accessible drugs like internet porn are also to blame, they are the fertilizer that helps the seed of addiction to sprout and grow into a deep rooted tree.

 

We might think of it in terms of "with great power comes great responsibility." Being able to access all kinds of information IS a form of great power, the responsibility to yourself and how you impact your mind, not to mention others even indirectly is the part that doesn't seem to get much attention.

Even on an individual level we have a choice of whether we entertain certain ways of thinking, the number of choices and the effect is of course exponentially greater when we have access to the thoughts of others in the world out there. Sure you can learn all kinds of interesting things that can actually benefit you and is productive in some way, but when something addictive is amplified it's that much worse. It's like a mind meld with a bunch of people you don't know, most people have enough of their own stuff to deal with and you're just making it that much harder when you take in all the information online that is basically pathological in some way.

A generalization that is also true is our individual nervous system is simply not up to the task of dealing with the mix of programs and content with high speed internet. In that way it's about knowing our limits - and being in touch with our nervous system in the first place, the internet as a [maybe distant] second.

 

WHM!!! Thats legendary stuff right there man. One of the few things thats have helped me keep a level playing field somewhat the last year or 2. Do the WHM everyone!!!

 

Wim Hof Method. Wim Hof is a dutch guy that has like 26 world records of feats in the cold whether being packed in ice, hiking up a snowy mountain in only shorts and he has taught a method to a lot of people, some of whom have been scientifically studied as he himself has been. But the method itself is not only about the cold, the other two elements are breathing and mindset.

In the context of this thread I just have to point out the basic fact that when we're online we're pretty much focused on mental stuff and communication through words etc., but with something like WHM it's about working with the body - the mindset part is also there but you're not kind of disconnected with just intellectual abstractions and opinions, you pretty much have to pay attention to the body when doing something like taking a cold shower so it really prompts us to go back to the body, you kind of have to pay attention to the body to be able to live healthily!

 

The internet has done two things with porn - it’s made it accessible and free 24 hours a day, and it’s made it way less taboo. Like it’s not a big deal at all (in my world) to talk about hub sites with my friends (male and female) or even talk to previous partners about porn like it was no big deal at all.

On the flip side, we still haven’t reached a point in society where talking about porn ADDICTION isn’t shamed. So you’ve got millions of people openly talking about porn, but millions of people that can’t talk about it if it’s effecting them negatively.

 

I feel the same way. I grew up in the early 2000s with magazines and d-i-a-l-u-p internet!

Back then the porn seemed just an easy distraction. I didn't spend hours on it because I really wanted girls. Fast forward to 2008 or something, and the tube sites where you have a video on each tab and endless novelty, then I spent hours online AND I started to lose interest in real girls.

One thing this pandemic helped me with though, was seeing the black and white difference between pixels and reality...

You go outside after a long period of working from home, events cancelled, people wearing masks. And you start to appreciate the way things naturally are again!

 

One question, its unrelated to the topic and im sorry for that. As you said porn usage today is high especially in US. I'm not American but had chat with few of them. They say, and from the news I know that its common to start having sex while you are in school starting at age 15. The question is why americans still have a high porn consumption while they have the real deal? I mean from early age ppl getting sex so their brain should be wired with sex and not with porn. opinions?

 

Well i dont know the statistics on kids in that age range getting laid across the country right now but i do know that some states the legal age of consent can be from age 16-17. Also i think Americans but this is really worldwide still suffer from high porn consumption even though they get “real deal” is because one, i dont even know the statistics on how much or less sex on average people are having as opposed to the last few years or whatever but i think even still the addiction applys. You could be having sex at 16 17 years old but what you see done on porn could tempt you into being over excessive with your usage. Its kind of like asking why do Americans eat bad food and are the fattest people in the world when they have access to good healthy food all around em. People over indulge. Also their brain is wired with sex the male brain is constantly wired on sex all the time. Its just the sex on porn is like sensory overload being exposed to everything at one time so you can still get addicted.

 

Accessibility and anonymity really do contribute to higher rates of porn addiction. Before the internet, a lot of people didn't like the idea of having to buy magazines and tapes in person because of the shame and the risk of being seen going into/coming out of the shop by an acquaintance. These days, people have access to an infinite amount of free HD videos in every genre imaginable. Not only that, but it's free too. That's why porn addiction is such a widespread epidemic now. Other addictions cost the addict a lot of money, and that somewhat limits their exposure to the source of their addiction. A porn addiction, however, will only continue to worsen over time because it isn't draining the addict's money on a regular basis.

 

Totally. The internet makes porn easily accessible. There are no barriers against porn. It’s free, accessible, and very addictive. Who wouldn’t get hooked?

Your no longer that creepy guy going to the adult entertainment store. You can be completely anonymous and nobody would know. Internet porn masks the actual reality of porn addiction.

I wouldn’t know about porn, if it wasn’t for the internet. I probably would have less mental health issues too and be a lot more happier.

 

I feel the same way, especially when I was starting out. But in the end, you've come to the right place to combat it, and you'll develop a sense of willpower in the constant struggle against it. It'll get easier, but it is frustrating how it's allowed, monetized, and even encouraged by some. It makes me long for mild censorship, like I'd prefer if instead of censoring political organizations they'd censor sexual content except for certain dispenseries.

If it really does make that much of an impact on you, I'd say start a petition against it. I'd sign it. Hell, basically everyone here would!