Is porn actually harmless, or are we just pretending?

[something_else]

7 minutes ago, Valach said:

I feel like the issue is that humas are not really built to moderate such things. It is very easy to get addicted. It's quite similiar to social media you have listed in your list of "worse things".

I would argue social media addiction is much more prevalent. There are a lot more people spending 4-5+ hours a day scrolling on social media than there are people spending 4-5+ hours per day watching porn.

For most people who watch porn it's like 30 mins per day, if that.

Edited 7 hours ago by something_else

[Valach]

5 minutes ago, something_else said:

I would argue social media addiction is much more prevalent. There are a lot more people spending 4-5+ hours a day scrolling on social media than there are people spending 4-5+ hours per day watching porn.

For most people who watch porn it's like 30 mins per day, if that.

Yeah, social media addiction is crazy out of control. That being said I would not consider watching porn for 30 minutes a day healthy either.

[bazera]

For me quitting social media was like 100x easier than quitting porn. But it's a huge problem in society I'd agree. People are mindlessly scrolling through slop 5+ hours a day. Such a waste.

Quote

For most people who watch porn it's like 30 mins per day, if that.

When it comes to porn, the downside isn't the wasted time per se, it's all the side-effects that come with seeking constant dopamine pleasures day in day out.

I'd guess it won't be that bad if you do it once every one or two weeks.

Edited 7 hours ago by bazera

[something_else]

2 minutes ago, Monster Energy said:

In theory, moderation sounds fine. The problem is that most people aren’t actually operating from that level of control.

It’s not just about whether something is ‘objectively bad’, it’s about how it interacts with human psychology. Easy dopamine and constant novelty are literally designed to bypass moderation.

So yeah, there’s nothing wrong with it in a vacuum. But in reality, most people don’t live in that vacuum.

 

Just because some people cannot moderate themselves does not make the thing itself bad. Take other addictive things like heroin, cigarettes, sugary sweets, for each of these you can point to concrete health problems that occur as a result of excess consumption. With porn are there really any concrete health issues you can point to?

Probably the biggest issues are the ethical implications of funding the porn industry, and causing strain on relationships. The porn industry isn't super ethical, but you can consume amateur porn to bypass that. If your partner isn't happy with you watching porn I can see it causing strain on your relationship, but if they don't care then it's a moot point. Most couples I've met don't really seem to care if their partner watches porn. 

Aside from that I can't really think of anything else. Maybe causing people to have unrealistic views on sex? But again I don't really think that's universally true. I've found that porn has actually improved my sex life if anything.

[something_else]

4 minutes ago, Valach said:

Yeah, social media addiction is crazy out of control. That being said I would not consider watching porn for 30 minutes a day healthy either.

You say it isn't healthy, but can you point to anything concretely unhealthy about it?

[bazera]

@something_else Overconsumption causes issues, not moderate usage. I suspect you don't have overconsumption issues, so you haven't experienced anything related to that.

If you watch porn and masturbate way more than what's considered healthy, you'll see what we are referring to.

But I agree, it's a problem with self-control, but it's harder to control yourself when you are a teenager, and once you get hooked on it, it's hard to get unhooked.

Edited 7 hours ago by bazera

[Valach]

12 minutes ago, something_else said:

You say it isn't healthy, but can you point to anything concretely unhealthy about it?

It is a very common coping mechanism like anything you listed to escape internal shame, pain and all the uncomfortable feelings. I am not completely against porn and masturbation, though I think it is just better to masturbate without consuming porn.

It also replaces the need to meet someone, to have sex etc.

[something_else]

1 minute ago, Valach said:

It is a very common coping mechanism like anything you listed to escape internal shame, pain and all the uncomfortable feelings. I am not completely against porn and masturbation, though I think it is just better to masturbate without consuming porn.

It also replaces the need to meet someone, to have sex etc.

All valid points, I did mention earlier that I don't think it's healthy when used as a coping mechanism to avoid actually finding a partner or having sex.

[Valach]

5 minutes ago, something_else said:

All valid points, I did mention earlier that I don't think it's healthy when used as a coping mechanism to avoid actually finding a partner or having sex.

Fair, I missed that, sorry.

The issue also is that most people lack self awareness to recognize when they indulge with it as coping mechanism. 

[something_else]

5 minutes ago, Valach said:

Fair, I missed that, sorry.

The issue also is that most people lack self awareness to recognize when they indulge with it as coping mechanism. 

This is true for lots of things that are fine in moderation. Beyond spreading awareness of that, it's not really clear what else you can do. Banning porn or sugary sweets is extreme and impractical

[Monster Energy]

31 minutes ago, something_else said:

Just because some people cannot moderate themselves does not make the thing itself bad. Take other addictive things like heroin, cigarettes, sugary sweets, for each of these you can point to concrete health problems that occur as a result of excess consumption. With porn are there really any concrete health issues you can point to?

Probably the biggest issues are the ethical implications of funding the porn industry, and causing strain on relationships. The porn industry isn't super ethical, but you can consume amateur porn to bypass that. If your partner isn't happy with you watching porn I can see it causing strain on your relationship, but if they don't care then it's a moot point. Most couples I've met don't really seem to care if their partner watches porn. 

Aside from that I can't really think of anything else. Maybe causing people to have unrealistic views on sex? But again I don't really think that's universally true. I've found that porn has actually improved my sex life if anything.

You sound exactly like me when I was addicted to porn.

And I get your argument, but I think you’re looking for obvious, physical damage to prove it’s harmful. Not everything works like that.

The effect is more subtle. It’s in attention span, motivation, attraction, and how your brain gets used to constant novelty and easy stimulation. You don’t notice it while you’re in it, because it becomes your baseline.

And saying ‘most couples don’t care’ doesn’t really prove much either. People normalize things all the time. That doesn’t mean it has no impact.

If it works for you, fair enough. But that doesn’t mean it’s neutral long term.

 

[Elliott]

Does porn help someone get to what they want to achieve or attain. If porn didn't exist, would there be a void.

I say all that, but I will say I think nudity is good, or more accurately the aversion to nudity is bad, and probably directs people to porn addiction.

[Basman]

I don't understand why e-bros have such a hate boner for porn. It's negative effects are way overstated and exaggerated to a insane degree. "More addictive than cocaine"... Give me a break.

The primary issue with porn is it simply being a waste of time. That's it. But when it comes to people wasting their time then they are "ruining" their lives way more with Netflix, doom scrolling and gaming. Talk about depression for those who logged 1k+ hours in League of Legends or Runescape. Porn gets disproportional blame for how the entertainment media complex consume your life. 

Being anti-porn is squarely conformity. I really think that it is Christian in origin.

[bazera]

4 minutes ago, Basman said:

Talk about depression for those who logged 1k+ hours in League of Legends or Runescape.

Gaming for 1k+ hours doesn't cause erectile disfunction and intimacy issues.

[Ulax]

I think a lot of porn is really just a form of emotional self-regulation. Its not really about satisfying the sexual impulse. But its that it generates such a strong impulse that people's negative emotional circuitry gets drowned out.

[Basman]

2 hours ago, bazera said:

Gaming for 1k+ hours doesn't cause erectile disfunction and intimacy issues.

I can't find any solid evidence of that which isn't underlined by conformist cultural attitudes.

The opportunity cost of spending thousands of hours on entertainment is much greater overall. Your life satisfaction is contingent to a large extent to how effective you are at executing in my opinion. Don't dismiss so flippantly the impact thousands of hours on entertainment and social media actually is.

[bazera]

14 minutes ago, Basman said:

Don't dismiss so flippantly the impact thousands of hours on entertainment and social media actually is.

Yes that could destroy your life.

But over-consuming porn and masturbating compulsively (not out of horniness), can also destroy your potential.

It's simple really, I don't get where the disagreement is.

We're talking about excessive uses of something potentially useful when used occasionaly. But occasional porn use can lead to addiction, as well as occasional gaming can lead to addiction, doesn't mean it should, but it does for many people.

[Cred]

There's nothing inherently wrong with watching porn. Porn addiction is a symptom of a deeper problem which is alienation. If one fights porn then one fights the symptom and not the cause.

[Basman]

1 hour ago, bazera said:

We're talking about excessive uses of something potentially useful when used occasionaly. But occasional porn use can lead to addiction, as well as occasional gaming can lead to addiction, doesn't mean it should, but it does for many people.

You can't become addicted to porn. You can have a compulsion, but those are always more psychological in nature.

[Carl-Richard]

8 minutes ago, Basman said:

You can't become addicted to porn. You can have a compulsion, but those are always more psychological in nature.

Wut