Will watching youtube videos set me back?

Discussion in 'Rebooting - Porn Addiction Recovery' started by Deleted Account, Oct 12, 2020.

  1. Hello guys,

    A few days ago I hit a new low: I had a horrifying acid trip that lasted 30 hrs, ended up relapsing and I broke down crying and told my father about my addictions. I got back in the saddle and avoided going on a binge so I'm happy about that. I've been thinking a lot about what my life needs to look like if I'm gonna recover. I don't play video games anymore, I don't masturbate, watch porn, sext or spend lots of time on social media. I'm never doing drugs again, I don't even drink coffee anymore. The only online friends I do have are on whatsapp and it's strictly platonic. I do however watch quite a few youtube videos, it helps me stay positive because I tend to get stuck in my own thoughts a lot. Sometimes I watch let's plays of video games and I wonder if this is bad for my dopamine system.

    What do you guys do to stay hopeful? It's difficult to see the light sometimes as i've been struggling with porn addiction and pied for about 3 years now. Sometimes it feels like I'll never get better and it eats me from inside.
     
    AKUNT_5891 and DiscT365 like this.
  2. V∧DΞR

    V∧DΞR Fapstronaut

    Congratulations, you have reached a huge milestone, telling a trusted person about your addiction is probably the biggest achievement one can get during the any drug recovery journey. I bet this would help you get rid of this addiction for good as you now clearly know that someone would help. Wish I could do that one day. XD


    Yes binge watching YouTube videos mess your balanced dopamine system. If your brain gets more dopamine, it will want more, hence it will look for sources which will provide more dopamine. PMO and gaming release a lot of dopamine and that's why they are addictive. Try to limit both YouTube, gaming and PMO.



    Feeling of giving up happens, believe me. Here is my story in short:

    I started NoFap in January with a hope that I could be PMO free for the whole year, sadly that streak ended within 40 days and I got disappointed as hecc, after which I spent a total of 4 months of doing PMO, which destroyed me completely. i.e. I fell deep into the endless hole as my mind was discouraging me and telling me I could not do it.

    Then I restarted my streak in the month of June hoping I could make it to at least 90 days. And guess what I did reach 90+ days. Those were the best 90 days I had ever seen. I was more productive, I got more time and was a better person overall, as I had control over my anger and other emotions.

    Sadly I relapsed just 2 weeks ago. But I haven't forgotten the benefits yet.

    Therefore the only reason I am staying hopeful is because I have seen its benefits, I want to see them again, I want to become more productive, work towards my goals and be a better person overall.

    Now let me tell you that, you should not go too hard over yourself in the NoFap journey and you MUST NOT count the days seriously, but you must keep going on and must always have your goal in your mind.
    One more thing is that you should not test your will power too much, try installing some P@#n blockers, it helps a lot.

    I think this is all I can say for now.

    I hope it might be helpful to you.

    And yeah, don't give up, if you fail get up, learn from your mistakes and restart your journey once again because the benefits of this journey are real.

    Good Luck!
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2020
  3. Thanks guys, you definitely have given me some things to think about. I have decided to cut down my Youtube use as much as possible and a big chunk of yesterday was spent reading instead of mindlessly scrolling youtube. A much better feeling, easier to sleep to as well.
     
  4. Deysonn

    Deysonn Fapstronaut

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    Is youtube really that bad? I watch a lot of youtube. Stopped watching TV sometime ago.
     
  5. Little Prince

    Little Prince Fapstronaut

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  6. alphakadabro

    alphakadabro Fapstronaut

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    It has addictive properties and lots of inappropriate content for recovery. If you are disciplined and past 30+ days, Youtube can probably be used for niche purposes. I watch Chess videos and some religious and philosophy lectures.

    It's a bad habit to use it recreationally for no gain. Because its not social, you are doing it alone. And its an activity mediated by the internet, which is the root of PMO addiction. So there's the constant temptation to switch to a private browser and relapse.

    I think watching videos is something we need to regulate and replace as much as possible with other activities, like artistic, physical or intellectually engaging ones.
     
    Little Prince likes this.
  7. Very relatable. I have a horrible and I mean horrible Youtube problem. Youtube is the worst social media of them all. It justifies itself by having some useful content. I sometimes waste days watching Youtube. I hate it. It's even worse than sex addiction at least for me. DF Youtube is good for computer and I don't waste time when browsing youtube it on. But the phone application is the worst thing ever.
     
  8. Deysonn

    Deysonn Fapstronaut

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    I get what you are saying. It can be very tempting to pull up some sexy video on youtube. And this can lead you back to porn. 100% Agree. But there is some good content there also, however I get where you going from the temptation standpoint.

    I have to agree also that it would be better to engage in real social activities. I have been getting bored of youtube lately, been watching primarily videos on e-commerce and other educational stuff. I have taken an interest in audio books recently. I find them really good.
     
    alphakadabro likes this.

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