I'm almost more curious about the societal consequences of young people (mostly male) being raised on abundant internet porn and its role (if any) it plays in how men emotionally and physically connect with women or other men.
Are single-player games tearing society apart? Is a deck of cards wasted on solitaire? Must all bicycles be tandem?
> single-player games
I get obsessive about some games. A completionist, one might say. And when I've achieved what I want to in the game, I suddenly wake up and realize I haven't been outside for a week and I've ignored my friends, family, and colleagues. Worst, the guilt of that realization can be so overwhelming that I am tempted to ignore it and simply start another game that takes over my consciousness.
I've observed similar behavior in some others. It was most obvious among World of Warcraft (WoW) players when I went to university. I knew more than a handful of WoW players who dropped out of school because they found their in-game social circle more important than just about everything else in their lives. Rather than studying or going out, they needed to be present for the next raid (WoW session).
I say that have started play WoW again after several years off and dumping Reddit this evening.
Both of the can be enjoyable places and there are some really good Reddit communities, but it can be be just as addictive.
You'll observe that in more than just porn and games, you'll observe it in life in general. In fact for a lot of people that's the definition of a mid-life crisis: Suddenly waking up, realizing that you've been wasting your life slaving at a job you don't like, to make money that pays for things you don't own which you only have to offset how shitty your job makes you feel.
If your doctor told you right now, "you have exactly two weeks to live", would your life be unchanged for the next two weeks, or would you suddenly wake up and think "Holy hell, what have I been doing for the past age(self) years?"
Key word, maintaining.
Another obligatory Fight Club reference.
> “ Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. ”
It could be video games, but it could be lots of hobbies, or work, or a new relationship, etc.
I never did end up learning magic tricks or real archery, but I did go onto Duolingo and learn German. Kaj Esperanto. Και Ελληνικα…
That is one reason why I have always avoided MMOs. I may obsess over a single player game for a few weeks, but there is always an end.
On the flip side, though, when I'm not playing as part of one of these sessions, I like my relationship with the game. Especially, it's a great way of keeping in touch with a friend long-distance, which is normally something I struggle with[2].
[1]: In the colloquial, not medical, use of the word.
[2]: Somewhat, I also put less effort into long- distance friendships by choice; putting in lots of effort to keep in contact with someone who I wouldn't otherwise interact with becomes a chore and I don't get as much out of it. Since I would still be gaming otherwise, this doesn't become a chore, and regularly using voice chat makes it even better, compared to a game like scrabble where it's just text. (This part not being unique to League, of course; any other real time team game would do the same).
I personally think it’s completely natural to have such urges and to cave to them. In fact, for men specifically there are some benefits in keeping the system well lubricated (pun not intended). It’s just something one has to moderate.
Additionally, i have noted that people’s expectations of their desired partner is usually skewed from what they see in porn.
Porn is hardly the only - or even the main - driver of this, though. Look around you: you'll see billboards, magazines, TV commercials, banner ads, etc. etc. basically a plethora of images showing gorgeous women. Compared to that, porn's effect on men's partner expectations is probably negligible (unless it's for specifically sexual attributes like whether they shave their genitalia).
I have seen no evidence in myself or my friends that porn affected our expectations for our partners.
The numbers I’ve seen about sex-trafficking ruins all porn for me.
I never used to feel that way until internet-awareness woke me to it.
I don't think adopting either far end of the spectrum view of womens' sexuality is healthy. On one hand you have people who think less of women (putting it lightly) who are sexually active, and on the other people who treat them like they're children and believe there's no way they could be enjoying themselves as performers and that someone must be forcing them into it.
Women aren't any different from men wrt sex - some like to have a lot, some a little, some with different people, some outdoors, some with members of the same sex, and some with members of both sexes. Like green eggs and ham, kinda.
Secondly, what pattern? Dogs (and TIL dolphins) hump random things; hyenas are (in human terms) femdom sadomasochists; the male antechinus gets horny once in their life, then has as much sex as possible before dying of exhaustion; female ferrets literally die if they don’t have sex; bonobos have sex pretty much as a way of saying “hello”, “sorry”, or as a social favour; and pandas famously don’t mate enough for their own survival.
http://psych.utoronto.ca/users/tafarodi/psy427/articles/Owen...
Conclusion for the lazy :
Increased access to the Internet by adolescents has created unprecedented opportunities for sexual education, learning, and growth. Conversely,the risk of harm that is evident in the literature has led researchers to investigate adolescent exposure to online pornography in an effort to elucidate these relationships. Collectively, these studies suggest that youth who consume pornography may develop unrealistic sexual values and beliefs. Among the findings, higher levels of permissive sexual attitudes, sexual preoccupation, and earlier sexual experimentation have been correlated with more frequent consumption of pornography. Researchers have had difficulty replicating these results, however, and as a result the aggregate literature has failed to indicate conclusive results. Nevertheless, consistent findings have emerged linking adolescent use of pornography that depicts violence with increased degrees of sexually aggressive behavior. The literature does indicate some correlation between adolescents’ use of pornography and self-concept. Girls report feeling physically inferior to the women they view in pornographic material, while boys fear they may not be as virile or able to perform as the men in these media. Adolescents also report that their use of pornography decreased as their self-confidence and social development increase. Additionally, research suggests that adolescents who use pornography, especially that found on the Internet, have lower degrees of social integration, increases in conduct problems, higher levels of delinquent behavior, higher incidence of depressive symptoms, and decreased emotional bonding with caregivers.
Herin lies the problem with moral crusading. I feel awesome after watching internet porn. Keep your opinions from bleeding into others' rights.
Well then... wait til you try cocaine!
Point being, because it is a matter of prudence on the part of civil authorities, I am not claiming that people have the right to these things as hedonists are wont to claim.
Some people can “handle” porn in that they don’t experience any negative effect from it. Some, unfortunately, cannot.
I now see frequent posts on /r/relationships about porn problems on various level.
It turns out that a small subset of humanity is incapable of controlling themselves regardless of the medium and all that really matters is how destructive the activity is when abused.
I'll be amazed if people are dating in 5 years at this rate.
But if you want some studies:
https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/brain-scan-studies-porn-user...
Abstract:
Traditional factors that once explained men’s sexual difficulties appear insufficient to account for the sharp rise in erectile dysfunction, delayed ejaculation, decreased sexual satisfaction, and diminished libido during partnered sex in men under 40. This review (1) considers data from multiple domains, e.g., clinical, biological (addiction/urology), psychological (sexual conditioning), sociological; and (2) presents a series of clinical reports, all with the aim of proposing a possible direction for future research of this phenomenon. Alterations to the brain's motivational system are explored as a possible etiology underlying pornography-related sexual dysfunctions. This review also considers evidence that Internet pornography’s unique properties (limitless novelty, potential for easy escalation to more extreme material, video format, etc.) may be potent enough to condition sexual arousal to aspects of Internet pornography use that do not readily transition to real-life partners, such that sex with desired partners may not register as meeting expectations and arousal declines. Clinical reports suggest that terminating Internet pornography use is sometimes sufficient to reverse negative effects, underscoring the need for extensive investigation using methodologies that have subjects remove the variable of Internet pornography use. In the interim, a simple diagnostic protocol for assessing patients with porn-induced sexual dysfunction is put forth.
Essentially, yes, Porn on the internet seems to be a 'serious' problem in that it affects relationships and personal health in a measurably negative way.
I'm raised with internet porn and I don't believe I have a problem. Why should I be banned from watching something I enjoy?
I don't buy the crap about porn changing people. Sure you can say that for yourself if you got addicted but you can't just throw that out as a general truth. Porn has been around for a long time now and I don't really see people behaving different today.
I see this said a lot but it's never described in what ways porn changes this, other than men suffering from sexual disfunction.