There are several schools of thought regarding pornography addiction. While some view it as a medically driven addiction, others opt for socially driven. Then there are some religious minds who think it is a spiritual attack from the devil.
With all these hypothetical notions, is pornography as bad as it is being portrayed?
Pornography: Etymology
Pornography is the depiction of erotic behaviour in the form of writing, pictures or videos, with the intention of causing sexual excitement. It exists to enhance sexual excitement, but is sexual excitement or arousal bad? And at what point does this enhancement turn into addiction?
Pornography addiction is a compulsive engagement in sexual activity with pornography to the extent that it interferes with your physical, mental and financial well-being. Being human is tantamount to being sexually excited at one point or another, but addiction has a lot of negative effects on the overall day-to-day activity of man.
The struggle to quit porn has proven futile by many, and there is a growing over-dependence on it for sexual stimulation or arousal. Is there hope to scale down porn addiction?
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Negative effects of pornography addiction
Deadened response to dopamine
Dopamine is that compound in the body responsible for allowing you to feel motivation, satisfaction and pleasure. At any sexual release through masturbation, your body releases dopamine.
While I wouldn’t get into the science of that, pornography addiction results in your body releasing dopamine on a consistent basis. In return, your body gets used to that feeling and you no longer get aroused easily.
You begin to crave more hardcore content in order to satisfy one’s self. The deeper you go, the harder sexual stimulation becomes.
Sexual isolation
While many self-proclaimed scholars on pornography matters would tell you it is not bad, a significant similarity among porn watchers is isolation. It is a norm to always find a cool, dark and isolated space when one wants to watch porn.
This repeated action results in an over-dependence on self-stimulation. Sexual isolation and self-stimulation go pari passu (hand in hand). They no longer crave the touch of opposite sexes and would relish any chance they can get to isolate themselves.
Decreased productivity
When there is a heightened compulsion to watch porn, it affects every key part of your day. From work to family to personal care, you would dare to abandon it all just for a pint of satisfaction.
As with every other form of addiction, pornography is no different. It is like a burning desire that hits and hits the door of your mind until you satisfy it or like a hunger that must be fed. This act will leave key parts of your life wanting significantly.
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Financial issues
With every advancement in human history comes dire disadvantages. One huge disadvantage of technology is bringing pornography to our fingertips. You only need your phone and data in order to tune yourself into the countless array of pornographic websites.
As such, people waste money on data just to get that rush of dopamine. The financial issues stem from the search for different pornographic content than the last. No matter how small money you spend on pornography, it could benefit other key areas of one’s life.
Career loss
It only seems fair that such an act will have a grave impact on your career. It is a form of distraction and one’s career will suffer. Maybe not immediately, but surely. This is as serious as it gets.
Depression
This one is for the fighters. Many people are aware of the negative effects of pornography on their lives and would love nothing more than to stop it. But, addiction is a process and stopping such an act is also a process.
In the fight to stop watching pornographic content, many slip into depression out of powerlessness and pain. They can’t help themselves and are stuck with an internal embargo.
Pornography is a package deal. You don’t get one and leave the other. All these effects would show up at one time or the other. The question is, is there hope?
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Hope against porn addiction
There is hope, actually. Every habit can be counterattacked with another. Practice makes perfect, they say, and you’ve found out the hard way. There are several steps to be taken which may seem futile at first but have compound benefits:
Accountability
One of the hardest things for a man is being accountable. It is exciting and wild to have no one to answer to and just be your own person. This is why pornographic addiction feeds on isolation.
Accountability is the gradual Achilles heel of pornography addiction. It is crucial to have someone to report to at any moment of weakness. This will allow you continually limit yourselves in the pursuit of change.
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Abstinence
I know abstinence is not as easy as it sounds. You have probably tried that a number of times and failed. My advice is, don’t stop failing. Ensure you keep trying to abstain whilst consciously increasing the number of intervals before falling.
The goal isn’t to stop once. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you sure as hell can’t bring it down in one. The more you abstain, the more you strengthen yourself against the viciousness of mental attacks.
Lifestyle revamp
The half solution to solving your problem is knowing your problem. We have identified that pornography addiction feeds on isolation. It is crucial that you change your lifestyle to ensure you are busy and not always in a position that requires you to be alone.
That includes getting a lover. Someone to share nighttime and spaces with. The fight against pornography addiction should be intentional and head-on. A lifestyle revamp is a great kickstart for your journey to stop pornography addiction. An idle hand is the devil’s workshop, remember.
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Mental health professional
Psychotherapy is important to deal with the effects of addiction such as depression or anxiety. It can also serve as an accountability medium in form of a therapist. Psychotherapy can help understand the reason for the addiction.
Site blocker and parental control
A site blocker is a software program that purposely bans entry to certain sites. The intent of site blockers is to prevent users from using distracting websites instead of concluding their work. Parental control, on the other hand, is a feature that limits content access to the younger ones.
These coping mechanisms are intentional and crucial to stopping pornography addiction. Adding a list of pornographic-related sites to the website blocker will stop you from viewing such sites.
In conclusion: Is there hope?
O ye of little faith. It is no news that we might have tried all the fore-listed solutions. The most important solution of all is seeing addiction as the enemy and never backing down from getting better.
It takes firmness, grit and an unshakable resolution to be able to quit porn addiction.
