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Comment by girvo | Hacker News Reader

My issue is with the use of the term “addiction”, yes. It’s multiple orders of magnitude smaller in effect size on dopamine receptor down regulation compared to Opioid Use Disorder, for example, and I think conflating them can be a bit harmful.

That said, this battle was lost long long ago, so it’s somewhat of a moot point.

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addiction refers to a pattern of behavior not just its scale. like, you can be addicted to eating even though it has a much smaller effect than smack and people still are and end up 600 pounds. i also think addiction around porn is not just addiction it's a fucky form of erotic plasticity that gets people hooked on weird stuff that messes with their ability to have normal, healthy relationships.

like, i watch a shitton of peers have problems with this and then y'all tell me "oh at least it's not opioids". bruh. yes it's not opioids it's a different kind of problem. then there's the people who are out here like "oh you're just a puritan" refusing to admit that there's literally anything potentially dangerous about porn at all.

> oh at least it's not opioids

That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that we shouldn't conflate the two via language, because as you also admit, they're not even in the same planet with regards to their danger and effect on the human organism. They don't operate the same way at all. I said nothing and passed no judgement on the dangers or lack thereof of porn.

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