I'm currently just short on 30 days rebooting and having decent progress. Morning wood is regularly but quite average, and libido is at about 15% on the days where it's there. 15% feels amazing after years of it being 1% – if that... But dating apps feel like trouble because you rapidly go through women on screens, many not wearing that many clothes. I put my phone in greyscale (to make it less stimulating) and only use the apps for a few minutes each day to send likes, return messages, set up dates, and then leave again. But I got a feeling that even this is a big no-no as it triggers the same digital arousal part of the brain. The thing is, I don't see how else I'm going to line up dates? I work a lot from home so this feels like the most feasible way. Even if I was completely healed, I don't see how I can rule out dating apps in this day and age.
As you asked I will give my opinion. I will say definitely not, you need to delete these apps whilst on a reboot, once you are rebooted and ready to date again you can reinstall them, I think they are like having a short cut to a porn site on the home page of your phone. You are on dangerous ground having them on your phone
In my opinion, if you are using them strictly to try and meet women and not masterbating to the women then i think it's okay. If you're scrolling through the women and see one you think is attractive, i also think it's okay to swipe right or message her, just don't touch yourself. I'm no psychological expert, but I think part of the recovery process is learning how to deal with real life and your porn addiction. It's not like you reach a certain number of days of NoFap and suddenly you are cured. It's something that is always going to be there and you have to learn how to manage it but still live your life. Trying to meet someone is part of real life. If you feel like you are ready for that step then I say go ahead and use the app. But if you find yourself starting to slip then i would consider deleting the app.
Yeah, I'm only using it to quickly line up dates. Not touching myself to them, god no – that's creepy (unlike porn, as obviously they sign up knowing that people are going to do that)! I feel I've finally reached the point where PMO disgusts me. Viewing people in grey scale mode isn't triggering. I just don't see what the alternative is, really. Keep on NOFAP waiting for that perfect day of 100% healing and then meeting someone in real life? Could be waiting a long time. I'm going to give it a month and see how it goes. If I feel like I'm slipping, I'll stop.
It's a gamechanger! It makes your phone boring as heck to look at, super handy for rebooting should any images pop up that you don't want to see.
