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Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

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Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#171
post #146
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While many functioning porn users will dismiss your comment as nonsense, I believe it really is a massive problem in society. Porn in its current iteration, is similar to social media in that it literally programs your brain. We program computers but are ignorant to the fact that computers can program our behaviour if we are not careful. Yes, it is a poor substitute for intimacy but it also creates dangerous thought…

What kinks do you think are unhealthy? I’d wager that truly unhealthy kinks are uncommon.

>I’d wager that truly unhealthy kinks are uncommon.

The algorithm on PornHub promotes incest videos so heavily that creators of regular porn have started putting words like "stepmom", "step-sister" and "step-daughter" in the title of their videos even when the actual content has nothing to do with that.

It's one of the reasons I stopped using the site and went over to Reddit.

Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#172

The funniest part: "[The researchers] then asked, “Would they rather do an unpleasant activity than no activity at all?” ... Participants were given the same circumstances as most of the previous studies, with the added option of also administering a mild electric shock to themselves by pressing a button. Twelve of 18 men in the study gave themselves at least one electric shock during the study’s 15-minute “thinking”…

Growing up in the boonies... lots of electric fences and lots of pre-teen and teenage boys thinking it is hilarious to grab the fence then grab your friends. I'd still do it once - wouldn't be entertaining for too long but another post mentioning the novelty of it resonates with me.

The face slapping world championships is also a thing so really no surprises here hah.

Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s acceptable to have a position or opinion, civilly stated. Any of the common “vices” like gambling, porn, Skinner box games, some drugs are difficult for people to manage. That dopamine hit burns behavioral pathways into the brain and is tough to undo.

Why are you (and others in this thread) grouping porn with drugs and gambling? To me, this does not make any sense. Watching porn is not a bad thing. Obviously, if you're talking about addiction then perhaps, but do you think people are addicted to porn (on average) to the extent others are to those other vices? Likewise, gambling and drugs impact you both physically and mentally, whereas the evidence for porn's impa…

Everybody in this thread is "watching" porn, like we're discussing movies. You're jerking off, masturbating, like those lab rats incessantly pressing a button to get a hit. That can't possibly be good for you in the long run as a man. So if you are spending n% of your life jerking off to pixels on a screen you need to ask yourself why.

Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#174
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>substituting titillations for profound organic satisfactions, cleverness for wisdom, and jagged surprises for beauty... ...And porn for relationships and intimacy. If there's any modern ill that has exacerbated our inability to be comfortable with boredom (which is essentially inner loneliness) it's porn. It's an escape for loneliness and a terrible salve that leaves the intrinsic desires for intimacy and connection…

While many functioning porn users will dismiss your comment as nonsense, I believe it really is a massive problem in society. Porn in its current iteration, is similar to social media in that it literally programs your brain. We program computers but are ignorant to the fact that computers can program our behaviour if we are not careful. Yes, it is a poor substitute for intimacy but it also creates dangerous thought…

This Russian guy used to run a femdom site called Young Goddess. (First rate fapp material and production values.) At some point he took it down and wrote a little manifesto on the destructive effects of porn and habitual masturbation.

http://web.archive.org/web/20121203092534/http://www.young-g...

And apparently he has an update from 2020:

http://web.archive.org/web/20200421160556/http://www.young-g...

Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#175
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kinks do you think are unhealthy? I’d wager that truly unhealthy kinks are uncommon.

>I’d wager that truly unhealthy kinks are uncommon. The algorithm on PornHub promotes incest videos so heavily that creators of regular porn have started putting words like "stepmom", "step-sister" and "step-daughter" in the title of their videos even when the actual content has nothing to do with that. It's one of the reasons I stopped using the site and went over to Reddit.

Not just the Algorithm. Each major company has a family-xxx studio for their content. They have significant production value & popular performers, which feeds the optimization cycle. God only know's what societal effect it has when you fetish step children like that at scale.

Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#176

Ever since reading Bertrand Russell's "The Conquest of Happiness", I've thought a lot about the importance of being able to sit inside my own head. One quote that I wrote down: > A life too full of excitement is an exhausting life, in which continually stronger stimuli are needed to give the thrill that has come to be thought an essential part of pleasure. A person accustomed to too much excitement is like a person w…

>substituting titillations for profound organic satisfactions, cleverness for wisdom, and jagged surprises for beauty... ...And porn for relationships and intimacy. If there's any modern ill that has exacerbated our inability to be comfortable with boredom (which is essentially inner loneliness) it's porn. It's an escape for loneliness and a terrible salve that leaves the intrinsic desires for intimacy and connection…

> porn for relationships and intimacy

Never heard of anyone giving up dating or intimate relationships for Porn. Is this a thing?

Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#177

The funniest part: "[The researchers] then asked, “Would they rather do an unpleasant activity than no activity at all?” ... Participants were given the same circumstances as most of the previous studies, with the added option of also administering a mild electric shock to themselves by pressing a button. Twelve of 18 men in the study gave themselves at least one electric shock during the study’s 15-minute “thinking”…

Even more amusing to me: the number of shocks men chose to give themselves had a mean value of 1.47 and a standard deviation of 1.46. This is after excluding one outlier who shocked himself 190 times [1].

[1] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6192/75

Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#178

This reminds me of a clip of Louis CK talking about losing the ability to just sit with your own thoughts and be really sad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c&t=53s Shame he turned out to be a sexual deviant because he said some interesting things.

Just for those reading the above comment about Louis CK ...

If he hadn't voluntarily apologized, and hadn't been the biggest comedian at the time, there wouldn't have been anything to the story since it was consensual, and in one case, with another famous star.

Anyway, he can afford not to work, but still does live standup shows.

Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#179
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh. I've been watching porn since forever. My taste in porn has informed my real-life taste, and vice versa (in particular, I detest make-up / fakeness, both in porn and in real life). Still, I find real people infinitely more fulfilling and have always put effort into seeking real relationships, sexual and romantic. (I estimate porn is similar to gambling - some people's psychology makes them more susceptible to ad…

Meh. I've been going to bars since forever. I'm not like that guy over there who pounds a 12 pack every night and has no standards for what he funnels down his gullet. Despite my habitual usage and inability to refrain from the activity for any extended period of time, I estimate his psychology must make him the addict. For me it's a matter of refinement and my consciously-engaged frontal-lobe awareness of the fine h…

If you hadn't inserted "inability to refrain" out of nowhere, you could have been describing a perfectly ordinary (though pretentious) non-alcoholic. And you inserted that based on absolutely nothing, so good work.

Re: Doing something is better than doing nothing for most people: study (2014)

#180

Ever since reading Bertrand Russell's "The Conquest of Happiness", I've thought a lot about the importance of being able to sit inside my own head. One quote that I wrote down: > A life too full of excitement is an exhausting life, in which continually stronger stimuli are needed to give the thrill that has come to be thought an essential part of pleasure. A person accustomed to too much excitement is like a person w…

I agree with this, my only note is that it doesn’t matter if the quantity of pepper would cause others to choke or not. The problem is the escalating need for stimulation as the quote points out, but not the difference of effect of that stimulation has on one vs another.
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