A couple of years ago i had my longest sober periods - 9 months without porn (but with masturbation & regular sex) and on a different occasion, 4 months PMO free (monk mode). The benefits that i experienced was that i could honestly say that i didn't watch porn and felt a bit proud of myself, but that's about it. When i was in monk mode i experienced a slight increase in energy and motivation, although it took some energy and motivation to remain abstinent. Eventually i started to question if i was happier with or without porn and later i lost my motivation to keep it up. Some people seems to experience a miraculous healing from all sorts of bad things (like some threads in the "success stories" section tell). I guess it varies from person to person. However, i was in an early phase of my recovery back then and still had a long road ahead of me. I am doing a reboot right now (monk mode) and looking forward to see what happens and how it will make me feel today.
I've had around 6 months in the past of no PMO, but the urge built up and of course then I relapsed. I don't think that's being sober but just being abstinent, people continually conflate the two which leads others to use the language in the same way but it just doesn't mean the same thing. During the first hour an alcoholic stopped drinking he is still under the influence, he is abstinent for that hour but he is not sober. In a more general, psychological way this may very well be the case even in a longer stretch of time like days, weeks etc., which is ONLY day counting and doesn't account for what actual mental state you are in, which is what sobriety means. Generally speaking you of course gradually get more clear about reality, especially if you do other work besides being abstinent, but it's not like it's an on and off switch. Sorry it's not personal but it is just not accurate use of language, and is the very reason why you're asking about not much positive effect. You'll also find in other more traditional recovery circles people don't talk about "benefits" like this, it's implied in so much as peoples lives improve, but that might be in terms of being able to deal with adversity but I bet you a ton of people on this site doesn't consider that a benefit. It's not a feel good thing like animal magnetism to attract girls or anything. Frankly I also find the "mode" thing a bit off putting, I think it may be helpful to remember a big part of the demographic here are younger people identified with technology and the gamification of the process. "Rebooting" is of course also a machine analogy. It's okay in so far as being descriptive of what specifically you are abstaining from but THAT'S IT. It's also not automatic like you flip a setting somewhere an you are actually in such a "mode." Think about all this for a second: This is a framework created by young people who look at it as a game. Go to any recovery group and nobody thinks of recovery as a game.
