Some survey results, hopefully a little light

Hi Community,

Some of you know me. Some do not. Some hate me. Some of you love me and my writing. Regardless, as promised here is the responses to my 10 question survey last week to help identify what demographics tend to struggle the most, or have highest risk. Perhaps with this small data analysis, we can come up with some ideas to help them.

For those of you who have not seen my posts, I joined July 20th, 2015 and have been incredibly active since. I have almost 400 posts and 300 likes. I have inevitably pissed a few people off, but also helped numerous [I hope]. As I get further in my NoFap success, I have begun to lean off the community and let other members take it in new ways. I am half way to a full 90 day PMO reboot!

In my previous "success story" where I talked more about my "One and Done" strategy, I ran a poll. Here are the results accompanied with my other independent survey monkey poll.

Spoiler: Success poll

Have you relapsed since you joined NoFap?
Edit

1. 1 time
   7 vote(s)
   6.1%
2. 2 times
   9 vote(s)
   7.9%
3. 3 times
   4 vote(s)
   3.5%
4. 4 times
   2 vote(s)
   1.8%
5. 5+ times
   52 vote(s)
   45.6%
6. *Not since NoFap
   40 vote(s)
   35.1%

Please keep in mind, I rounded percentages for ease, and the survey pool was 42 people.

Spoiler: The data

While looking at age demographics from survey monkey, I learned that the mass majority of people here at NoFap are 21-29 (51%) and 16-20 (28%), then 40+ (10%), 30-39 (7%), and 10-15 (2.56%). Whoever took this survey in that age group, GOOD FOR YOU! I am so glad you are here and at such a young age.

The other key demographic I learned from this was that the mass majority of people are male. Go figure? Well no. I still hold strong to believe this issue is becoming just as prevalent for women as men, however I feel that society has created a culture where it is easier for men to discuss, because it isn't "bad." I hope that women continue to speak up and fight as well.

The vast majority of survey participants are "single, never married." For the purpose of this survey, it shows that most people are not in a committed relationship here, with only 9.76% (4 people) saying they where in a relationship longer than 6 months, 4.88% married, 2.44% divorced and 2.44% cohabitation. Nothing new there, we know that a vast majority of fapstranauts want to be the better individual for when they do find a special relationship. It is a strong motivator.

Now the thing that truly stuns me is the 6 people that said they were either married or in a 6+ month relationship, ALL IDENTIFY as the SO being aware of the issue.

So now we get down to the git. Of the 42 participants, 30% are new to NoFap (1 month or less), and an additional 30% are 1-2 months. Get this though... 1/42 people said 3-4 months and then 5-8months was 10% again.

In an 18/23 split for Yes/No to a web blocker, the majority of people do not use one.

Additionally, 31% of NoFap participants have attempted hardmode and failed the first attempt, only 7% have been successful on the first attempt, 25% say they have not attempted hard mode or were not at least 20 days in yet, and 36% (15 people) are in progress with 20+ days!

Much like my independent NoFap poll, 15/42 people have relapsed more than 7 times since joining, and on the other side 14/42 say they haven't at all.

Additionally, I asked about people no NoFap's religion and here is the over all response. About 15/42 identify as a form of Christian (including catholic). There are some here who identify as Jewish, Muslim, Buddhism, Hinduism, Native American, Agnostic, Sikhism, and even non-traditional hebrew. 45% of the NoFap community says they are not religious.

Lastly, the number one reason people chose to quit PMO as self improvement. In a please rank the following with 7 different options, 20 people said self improvement was the biggest. The most common picked #2 option was "attraction and ability to "get" the other gender." The third choice was 40% common with Sexual benefits.

Interestingly enough, SO/Spouse as a reason was weighted about the same in ranks 1-5, but was rarely the least important. On the contrary, "other" was rarely a first rank reason why to quit, but was spread out at 2-7 between 12-20% selection.

Now, what can all this data tell us about our addiction and community established here. First, that there is a overwhelming desire from younger generations as this being a growing issue. I predict that we will continue to see younger and younger men and women join NoFap to fight PMO.

Secondly, it is safe to say that the majority of people who are here at this community, are probably men. So A) Keep in mind and be respectful to the minority women that are here, they are here as humans just like you and they deserve that respect. But B) in society as a whole the "NoFap" concept should be spread more widely, not just among men but women too. I feel that there are so many women who are just to ashamed to speak.

Thirdly, we know that the community does a good job encouraging and also individually acting, in honesty. Honesty is important to the healing process. Studies show that someone who has been recently out of a 2 year relationship breakup, could be actually ready to date again in 1-3 months or past 10 years simply based off the factor and frequency of how often and if they talk about the ex-relationship. I wonder if NoFap can hold true to the same thing. I know the more I talk about it, the easier it is for me to continue forward.

Fourth, NoFap is predominately a community of single people. Unfortunately I can't dissipate any other knowledge from this survey on that particular question. However, always question the advice you get in relationships here, as it has the potential to be highly bias.

Fifth, NoFap appears to have great participation in the early 0-2 months however I speculate there could be a perpetual cycle happening here, 0-2 months of activity and hype, then a "NoFap hope dryspell" where many either succeed all together of give up, which is why the 3-4 month period is not as active (and why myself do not feel the need to be as active). I think this could be a perpetuate due to often, the same point of views prevail over and over and others ask the same questions repetitively.

Sixth, a website blocker is a matter of preference. Some use it some don't, however there doesn't appear to be much correlation with success or not. I think this is attributed to peoples belief that the website blocker will fix them, when in reality they need to fix their mentality. Website blockers are not a end all, but a short term support.

Seventh, I continue to see a reoccurring issue with this community. I have extensively addressed it before, so I wont here. But I see two mentalities here. Those who succeed, and those who think they succeed. I characterize this by those who are not relapsing, attempting hard mode and giving it there all, and those who "say they want change," yet continue to allow relapses and expect something to change on its own. I frankly don't think that will happen, sorry.

Lastly, NoFap is filled with all forms of religion and non religion, a truly diverse and healthy community in that manner. That shows it is tolerant of other beliefs which is essential to continued growth.

Finally, we learned that the top three reasons people typically chose to quit PMO are self improvement, sexual benfits, and SO/Spouse in that respective order. This is huge to the success of peoples reboot as over 70% ranked "I was told to" as either 6th or 7th out of 7. Those who ranked I was told to as 1-4, I would strongly encourage you to reevaluate why you are here. Change is self inspired.

I hope this helps you all! It certainly is fascinating information.