Porn isn't the problem, technology is

Fuck Porn! Fuck Masturbation!

 

Just gotta remember, when there was no technology, man still wrote and illustrated down let alone carved into idols the desires of the flesh. Before the internet, there was VCR and magazines (both hoardable) and before them till the dawn of civilisation there have been brothels and escorts consistently complimented by crude idols and illustrations that spur our little caveman brains.

I disagree with the OP in that technology is not the issue, its the inherent sexual desire of the human race as we were made by evolution/god whatever or however. Nature kicks in the drive to procreate as a constant reminder of our own existence and why we are here, all the mental processes across the ranges of technology are the same.

Im sorry but each to your own, i think your points are beginning to fall apart into off topic fire-and-brimstone rhetoric for people who can't read or intelligently pick apart for a arguement.

Condolences on the death of your uncle but this is not a engaging arguement and little more than a bit of emotional bait. Other than a loose reference to the process of dating women it has nothing to do with technology. Here's a story i made to demonstrate.

Im sorry if i seem harsh but i speak my mind with deliberation

 

@Rlyq
As much as I disagree about your view on quitting PMO (in my opinion you shouldn't be posting that on NoFap's forum), I totally agree about the technology thoughts. It's especially hard for me, because my dad has made our living from computer technology-based work, and I, for my whole life and during my university studies, focused on technology both on creative side (programming, Internet, electronics) and on leisure side (games, forums, music, films etc.), so I can say I'm deeply involved .

Yet as much as I observe it, especially from the point I learned about nofap, I started noticing things and wondering about the technology, mostly about the widely available Internet connection, games and social media. I see me, a primary school boy struggling with anxiety and fears, sitting in his room alone and thinking that he doesn't need any friends when he has his computer, games, and Internet (in the times when it started to become more available). Too many times I have fled from real life challenges and from friends that I used to have, into safe, cozy, content-rich computer world. Even now, when I see all my problems caused by playing, watching and mindlessly scrolling, I can't manage myself to cut off - what would I be doing instead then?! But as they say, admitting that one has a problem is a first step to be fixed...

It's understood that for a young person it was really tempting, as I was born in the blossoming era of modern technology. But now I observe social media dragging my parents and even my grandparents generation - people tend to meet in person a lot less, as they can chat or watch other people sharing their lifes on facebook page, instead of asking them in person by a glass of beer. The facebook-checking time in the evenings became a habit for my parents. It really shocks me as I remember times when they wouldn't even imagine wasting their time like that now. It may be just an hour or two, but it adds up to shocking amounts over time.

I'm not saying that the technology itself is evil. You may start an argument that all the technology was new at some point and always there were some people saying that it's no good. Yet this time, I think that the progress came too fast and some individuals, without ability to moderate, got lost (like myself), and even stronger people tend to abuse. I am afraid for the next generation as I watch kids that can't yet read or even speak, but are given the tablets from their parents, and are more fluent in their operation that some people my age.

We are in the place from which we can't go back. You can't live in a developed society without an e-mail, internet bank account, or even facebook profile (as people from e.g. university post and discuss essential things there). Yet this stuff may be dangerous for some people, including me, and most people don't realize that risks.

I apologize if my post or my opinions may be unclear or exaggerated to you, as this are my hot thoughts in this subject. I started to have this feelings about our technology some time ago but didn't really have anyone to share it to or any other opinions to read in this matter.

 

I wouldn't call myself anti-tech, maybe tech-aware

You know, drug sellers don't do drugs either Kidding, of course, but he may had thought about consequences of abusing things he developed more than we do.

That is true, and as I said, humans are imperfect and the time in which so much awesome technology was developed may have been too short for them to stop, think about consequences and take it by moderation.

 

Yeah this post was so powerful until I read that part that he won't quit watching amature porn. I've tried everything and I mean everything to give up masterbating and porn. and Im now gonna try plan z and see if it works and that is getting rid of every piece of technolgy I own. I'm gonna put my phone, iPad, etc In a lock box and leave the key at work. i wont be able to communicate and visit this site unless I go to the library but its something I haven't tryed. hopefulay no emergency and I need my phone like a,family emergency. I can't remove the ps4 in the living room because its my sisters but I'm gonna delete the WiFi password and hope she doesn't use the ps4 for like 3 months so she won't put the password back in. I know technology isn't 100 percent the reason why we watxh porn nor will I solely blame it on it. we use porn to self sooth ourselves and deal with our emotions. I know speaking for myself as a porn addiCT I have to learn to deal with my emotions in a healthy way. but I'm gonna remove technology to the best of my abilties and see how that goes .....

 

Interesting ideas, my friend.

 

I think anti-tech is way too extreme.

Do you enjoy warm food? I doubt that you cook it over and open fire.

Do you like not having to dig a hole to shit in? I doubt that you have an outhouse.

Do you enjoy having food stay edible for long periods of time? I doubt that you are an aficianado of natural forms of food containment.

Do you like being able to travel wherever you want in the world in a reasonable amount t of time? I doubt that you ride your bike across the continent for the purpose of vacationing.

Let's face it. Technology is everywhere and it's not going anywhere unless there is some sort of world wide catastrophe that knocks out the power grid.

I'm sure that you'll come back and say, "Oh, but those forms of technology weren't a 'problem' therefore they don't count in this discussion."

Really? Because computers wouldn't exist without electricity, period.

Here are a few definitions of technology straight from the dictionary:

1. the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.
2. the application of this knowledge for practical ends.
3. the terminology of an art, science, etc.; technical nomenclature.
4. a scientific or industrial process, invention, method, or the like.
5. the sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material objects of their civilization.

Look, I get your argument and even agree on a few points. However, such an extreme angle is not the answer, in my opinion. The answer is to study the effects of all of this tech in depth and to release the findings to the public so that they can make a decision for themselves.

You suggest that drugs and porn are not problems. Are you for drug prohibition? Do you think that there should be a prohibition on pornography? What you suggest sounds a whole lot like prohibition of technology.

I am all for individuals, of their own free will, deciding that they want to limit their use of technology. However, suggesting that technology be somehow eliminated would be for the "betterment of mankind" is a kind of prohibition. How do you know what is best for humanity or best for even one other individual?

We, as humans, will always find ways to fuck ourselves up, tech or no tech. No tech will not solve all of our problems. Just as no porn will not solve all of anyone's problems. Maybe in an utopian, Aldous Huxley scribed world that might be the case.

The real world is much more complex. You get rid of one problem, you create 1,000,000 more. That, my friend, is the real world. Utopianism can never and will never exist, which is kind of the point of all of those utopian novels if you didn't quite get the gist the first time.

The illusion that there is some magic pill to make the world better is the real problem. The sooner you swallow that bit of truth, the sooner you will realize just how delusional you have become.

Either way, thank you for sharing your thoughts. This is quite an interesting discussion, despite all of the rash statements and false claims.

 

Instead of abusing technology we should take advantage of it. People used to be very curious back in the day. But now we dont ask any questions? Instead we go on porn and not take advantage. Read articles learn about something on the internet read. Its a fact that the human race is devolving instead of expanding

 

The discussion on this thus far has been way too general and oversimplified. I think the SPECIFIC aspect of "tech" that we need to look at is media theory.

One media theorist, Douglas Rushkoff outlines the media revolutions this way:

With the alphabet and written language it could be externalized to writing, but of course few were literate and had to hear it from the priesthood for example.
With the printing press the ability to read became wide spread, but the ability to control the press were in the hands of the few elites again.
With the internet people can publish all sorts of stuff, not limited to the written word - but the new edge that only few has the ability to control is programming.

This is not quite there yet, at least on a more popular level - but from what I understand it's getting there. Virtual Reality, sex robots - it's going to be beyond videos of people having sex.

And on the concept of programming, when it comes to NoFap and PMO I think the REAL significance is not programming computers, but programming people with computers.

And it's not making us any smarter.

The way to understand how we use computers is we outsource our cognition. For example we don't use our own memory when we can do a search, and there are ever increasing ways in which we defer to machines in our thinking and choices. The net effect is it dumbs us down, and arguably even in the area of intimate relationships as well. Even if someone is using eHarmony they are trusting the process to an algorithm.

Think about this for a second, we're trusting a machine to arrange relationships for us. I wouldn't trust my own parents to do that.

And as Gary Wilson has noted there's a correlation between high speed internet and the physiological changes in YBOP. People who study online psychology knows there's an amplification effect with arguments, trolling and such - but with porn it's direct and it skews your biology.

One of Rushkoffs book is Program or Be Programmed, just the title tells you something but there are very practical advice in that short book. Another one that's relevant is Present Shock, one of the concepts in that one is digiphrenia - worth looking up if anyone is interested.

 

A couple of quotes from a book on loneliness and tech:

“we seem determined to give human qualities to objects and content to treat each other as things.”
“We expect more from technology and less from each other.”
― Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

 

Porn isn't the problem and technology isn't the problem.

How you handle your emotions and the feeling of being rejected is the core root of the problem
Stay clean