If you’re implying that my bottom line is already written, I don’t think that’s the case. Both of the points I made in response to ChrisHallquist were things that I had already thought of before he posted, so I wasn’t just searching for a rebuttal to his points.
If you’re implying that the arguments I’ve made seem to have already convinced me to quit...well, yes. That’s why I’m posting here: to find out whether there’s anything I’m missing.
I’ve been thinking about whether it’s a good idea to quit porn (not masturbation, just porn). Does anyone have anything to add to the below?
Reasons not to quit:
It’s difficult, which may cause stress and willpower depletion, though these effects would probably only be temporary.
It is pleasurable (i.e. valued just as a “fun” activity. This should be compared to alternative pleasurable activities, though, because any “porn time” can be replaced with “other fun things time”).
Reasons to quit:
It’s a superstimulus, and might interfere with the brain’s reward system in bad ways. http://yourbrainonporn.com/ has some evidence, though nothing as strong as, say, an RCT studying the effects of quitting porn.
Time. Any time spent viewing porn is time that could be spent doing other things (not necessarily “working,” but other relaxing/pleasurable activities which could have greater advantages. For example, reading fiction has the advantage that you can later talk about what you read with other people).
Possibility of addiction: I definitely don’t think I have a porn addiction, and I doubt I’m likely to progress to one, but obviously it’s possible anyway, and my own inside-view on that isn’t very safe to go on. From wikipedia:
I haven’t viewed porn for about 2 weeks and it hasn’t actually been that difficult, so I’m trying to decide whether I should just commit to quitting it completely. Right now I’m leaning toward quitting—viewing porn might be harmful, and it’s almost certainly not beneficial, so there’s a higher expected value from quitting for anybody who doesn’t assign much higher utility to the fun from porn than the fun from alternative activities.
For completeness, I should also mention the “nofap” movement. The anecdotes on there are the same sort of things you’d find when reading about homeopathy or juice fasts, though, so those can be mostly ignored.