4 ms·

Addiction to alcohol leads to cancers and withdrawals can lead to death. Psychologically, addiction can make folks violent or take unnecessary risks. Cigarettes

by robobro 13y ago

Addiction to alcohol leads to cancers and withdrawals can lead to death. Psychologically, addiction can make folks violent or take unnecessary risks. Cigarettes cause cancers not only in you but in those around you. They smell to high hell too. Porn is not physically addictive and is not physically harmful. It's just as addictive as video games, television, or any other form of entertainment. If your argument against it's that it can help form unnecessary habits, we may as well ban free speech so that we can block all forms of entertainment that offend you.

meric 13y ago
"Porn is not physically addictive." Oh but it can be addictive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_addiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_addiction
- aaronem 13y ago
  Anything that provokes a dopamine dump can be addictive. What's your point?
  - throw-away4 13y ago
    So in short, anything can be addictive.
  - meric 13y ago
    It's disingenuous to suggest it's "not physically addictive", it makes it sound like there's no danger of addiction, yet there is actually a significant portion of the population who when consuming porn regularly do get addicted, just like cigarettes.
zxcdw 13y ago
> If your argument against it's that it can help form unnecessary habits, we may as well ban free speech so that we can block all forms of entertainment that offend you. Such a knee-jerk reaction, you are seeing an argument where none was being made. There's a quite active community in Reddit(r/nofap, 100k subscribers) who try to abstain from porn and masturbating altogether, reading their stories is very much alike to the stories one would read from for example ex-alcoholics. It's very fascinating stuff, I think. From what I can tell based on personal experiences and reading the said subreddit, porn for many is a form of escapism and a tool to relieve anxiety. The true causes are elsewhere, but excessive porn consumption causes further problems, especially in how many excessive consumers view and perceive women(including possible significant other) and their own sexuality. Some argue for higher productivity, better mood and self-confidence for breaking the habit. YMMV, I don't think there have been large-scale scientific studies on this subject, so it's all anecdotes. Don't believe me but check for yourself. I still argue there could be something to this in some scale. I definitely am against blocking porn or controlling it's usage, but I'd prefer people to be more mindful about their habits surrounding the use. Same goes for video games, gambling, television and whatnot.
whodaman 13y ago
Neuroscience disagrees with you - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/27/9185.full http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/27/9185.full. Porn itself isn't to blame - it's human physiology/response to porn. It is extremely addictive and I have first hand seen and experienced the depth of depravity and damage, spiritual, mental and physical that a consumer of pornography can commit against his or her own self. The ones who say "it isn't addictive" are most of the times so far down the rabbit hole of porn, they aren't even aware of its impact - it's just "normal" to them.

by robobro 13y ago

meric 13y ago

"Porn is not physically addictive." Oh but it can be addictive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_addiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_addiction

aaronem 13y ago
Anything that provokes a dopamine dump can be addictive. What's your point?
- throw-away4 13y ago
  So in short, anything can be addictive.
- meric 13y ago
  It's disingenuous to suggest it's "not physically addictive", it makes it sound like there's no danger of addiction, yet there is actually a significant portion of the population who when consuming porn regularly do get addicted, just like cigarettes.

zxcdw 13y ago

> If your argument against it's that it can help form unnecessary habits, we may as well ban free speech so that we can block all forms of entertainment that offend you. Such a knee-jerk reaction, you are seeing an argument where none was being made. There's a quite active community in Reddit(r/nofap, 100k subscribers) who try to abstain from porn and masturbating altogether, reading their stories is very much alike to the stories one would read from for example ex-alcoholics. It's very fascinating stuff, I think. From what I can tell based on personal experiences and reading the said subreddit, porn for many is a form of escapism and a tool to relieve anxiety. The true causes are elsewhere, but excessive porn consumption causes further problems, especially in how many excessive consumers view and perceive women(including possible significant other) and their own sexuality. Some argue for higher productivity, better mood and self-confidence for breaking the habit. YMMV, I don't think there have been large-scale scientific studies on this subject, so it's all anecdotes. Don't believe me but check for yourself. I still argue there could be something to this in some scale. I definitely am against blocking porn or controlling it's usage, but I'd prefer people to be more mindful about their habits surrounding the use. Same goes for video games, gambling, television and whatnot.

whodaman 13y ago

Neuroscience disagrees with you - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/27/9185.full http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/27/9185.full. Porn itself isn't to blame - it's human physiology/response to porn. It is extremely addictive and I have first hand seen and experienced the depth of depravity and damage, spiritual, mental and physical that a consumer of pornography can commit against his or her own self. The ones who say "it isn't addictive" are most of the times so far down the rabbit hole of porn, they aren't even aware of its impact - it's just "normal" to them.