When trying to replace pmo with new habits or hobbies, I find that there's hobbies that help me and hobbies that hurt me in my no pmo journey. For example, playing video games to take my mind off pmo usually results in high urges during or after playing video games. For this reason, I consider play video games as a negative hobby and try to stay away from them. Exercise, on the other hand, is a hobby that takes my mind off pmo and results in lower urges overall. The think the difference is that some hobbies merely distract the brain from pmo and other hobbies take the mind off pmo and encourage it to grow in another direction. Here's a list of healthy and unhealthy hobbies/habits for me Healthy Exercise Reading Eating healthy Writing in journal Unhealthy Using computer for entertainment, long periods of time Video games Watching T.V. Eating unhealthy Have you experience this? Do you find that there are some hobbies that help you in your no pmo journey and others that seemed to bring you back to pmo?
I could definitely see where video games could be deemed as a bad distraction as you are still engaging with electronic devices. Your brain may be associating using the electronic device with PMO and increasing the urge.
Exercise, reading, writing, socializing, being outside, working are all good for me. Any positive healthy activity. And especially healthy social activities are the best for me.