im seeing alot of progress with pied, but would you say quitting browsing youtube or tv mindlessly will aid recovery ? ik im not supposed to replace one addiction with another , thats not what i mean, i mean in general
Technology is everywhere, you want to understand how it works instead of naming particular things whether it's streaming videos or say social media. That applies to plenty of other things. Maybe that's a good show, maybe it's not. Maybe this episode/season is worth it, and you're invested from a previous one - but maybe (probably?) you're just wasting your time. It's the same with porn actually, you may have noticed the vast majority of stuff is really fake and boring - I doubt anyone would even be on this site if they didn't notice this. It's the same thing. There aren't even that many different possible combination of sex organs bumping into human bodies so what real reason do we have to watching this stuff? Porn induced zombie apocalypse I tell ya.
To put things into perspective, I feel that our activities must be aligned with our core purpose. Watching TV or Youtube for a particular purpose (eg. You want to learn guitar) is one thing. But zoning out TV shows and Youtube is an entirely different thing. If you are using Youtube, that is good. But if you feel you are being used by Youtube, by mindlessly watching random shit, you must take time to take a step back and evaluate yourself. When you mindlessly browse YT, ot TV, you are actually building stress within yourself, because deep down you know, there are more productive ways to use the time. And once stress builds up, the addict craves dopamine and there is a good chance he may be tempted to PMO. That's what I learned from my experience. Personally, I've stopped using TV years ago. I've been hooked to random shit on YouTube and I'm trying to detox. Now I'm using it more mindfully and I feel that if used mindfully, Youtube is a productive tool. Keep sailing! Cheers!
Surfing mindlessly will not make you a better person. Plus, there's a chance that a trigger will pop up and make your unconscious mind crave PMO. Have a motive/goal and a vision to achieve it always. Have a purpose for which you surf the web.
You're right, i don't really watch tv that much but yeah, i guess i do wast the majority of my day mindlessly looking at random videos, i guess its better to do a dopamine detox in general , by stopping all addictive and unhealthy activities. Ive tried to stop a couple of times but i guess its as addictive as porn and i need to exercise the same methods to avoid wasting my time all the best on your journey too bro
im way past pmo, porn disgusts me. its not really triggers i was worried about , but more of because the internet is like artificial human interaction, well the way i use it. Because of quarantine i dont go out much and i noticed i just waste time instead. idk maybe it has a pornlike effect on the reward center for social interaction...in any case i dont want to keep wasting time ill take your advice.
honestly its kinda sad that our brains are so limited to stimulus and one small variable like porn could fuck up our natural functions.
The "maybe" function is what's behind the particular stimulus being an issue, it's this gambling mindset of maybe there's something worthwhile around the corner, whether it's sexual in nature or just tv entertainment. That distorts the natural function or it ignores it. In that sense it's a mind game, some people can have a really attractive partner and be always looking for someone better or just different, the Coolidge effect and novelty seeking. So to address that we can't just be limiting the stimuli or the stimuli delivery system, we have to look at the meaning processing system in our own minds.
its alot of pressure to be 16 and not functioning properly, i guess this will make me learn about values but ill be honest i didnt expect to have to become a fucking Buddha to be able to regain my sexual function back... like looking back on the shit i needed to get aroused, it was borderline illegal, like i mean some fucking messed up shit. no one told me that that porn would condition me this way ( claps 4x(friends reference)) but i guess its my fault and i did it to myself. im not bitching , maybe i am, anyways im handling my consequences
It's not your fault at all, you're 16, it's those who are supposed to be teaching you about these things that are at fault.