Is porn actually harmless, or are we just pretending?

[Natasha Tori Maru]

4 hours ago, Willy Phallicus said:

Anything can become an addiction or obsession.  My analogy works because if porn spirals into an addiction then you're using that fire destructively.

 

However - people do not have a biological driving force to 'fire'.

We aren't just talking about the 'thing' here, which would be porn, but also the factors within human biology and dopamine systems that also come into play. Last I checked people have a need to fuck. There's not the same driver for 'fire'. You cannot lacerate off the most important part of the discussion to force this analogy fit.

Essentially porn is a supernormal stimulus - something that engages with an existing drive directly and amplifies it beyond what it evolved for.

[lostingenosmaze]

 

[Ramasta9]

1 hour ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

However - people do not have a biological driving force to 'fire'.

We aren't just talking about the 'thing' here, which would be porn, but also the factors within human biology and dopamine systems that also come into play. Last I checked people have a need to fuck. There's not the same driver for 'fire'. You cannot lacerate off the most important part of the discussion to force this analogy fit.

Essentially porn is a supernormal stimulus - something that engages with an existing drive directly and amplifies it beyond what it evolved for.

Well said. This gave me an analogy.

Having sex is like lighting a fire to complete your evening duties, cooking, lighting, and keep you warm throughout the evening. Watching porn is like lighting up a candle and expecting it to provide the wide array of things the a real fire can provide. 

[Carl-Richard]

59 minutes ago, Ramasta9 said:

Well said. This gave me an analogy.

Having sex is like lighting a fire to complete your evening duties, cooking, lighting, and keep you warm throughout the evening. Watching porn is like lighting up a candle and expecting it to provide the wide array of things the a real fire can provide. 

I thought you would mention a flamethrower but ok.

[Natasha Tori Maru]

6 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

I thought you would mention a flamethrower but ok.

The spigot of the fully charged up male of the human species?

[Ramasta9]

8 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

I thought you would mention a flamethrower but ok.

I guess  Its just what came up.

[bazera]

I think that junk food is a perfect analogy because it's obvious that over-consumption causes issues.

But notice that some people eat junk food and don't experience negative side-effects because of it. Maybe it's genetics thing? Trump comes to mind as he famously eats McDonalds daily. Maybe porn works like that too I have no idea.

Also notice that over time you get desensitized to a normal food, requiring more sugary, salty and exciting processed junk to satisfy the tongue and taste receptors.

And when you ditch junk food and return to healthy eating habits, senses are being reset and you are back to normal in couple weeks. If you are lucky you can even reverse your bad health with it.

The compulsivity and lack of self-control is a problem here, not porn itself. But porn is designed in such a way and tickles a part of the reptilian brain (so to speak) in such a way that it's very easy to lose yourself in the rabbit hole of it, especially when you are a teenage boy having nothing better to do.