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Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

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Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#111

Post by blacksmith_tb »

bityard wrote: post #87
f6v wrote: post #15

Isn’t it like dieting? What I mean is that digital escapism is a symptom, not a problem. Before social media existed, people used to fill up their time with: 1) Having many children 2) Watching TV 3) Excessive alcohol use etc. Media addiction is a manifestation of something, not the root cause.

> Media addiction is a manifestation of something, not the root cause. I only partly agree. I have two children. We are loving parents and provide them with a stable house, lots of food, plenty of attention. They have friends, toys, games, books, musical instruments, bikes, and a whole neighborhood to explore. We are an extremely typical middle-class household. But left to their own devices, they will happily spend e…

I have wondered if this is materially different from previous generations children sitting glassy-eyed in front of the TV? I certainly spent at least a couple of hours a day doing that as a kid, with the added minus of having little control over what was on, or any way to block advertising... I suppose it did expose me to a lot of things I wouldn't have voluntarily sought out, though.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#112

Post by nicoburns »

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #111
bityard wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Media addiction is a manifestation of something, not the root cause. I only partly agree. I have two children. We are loving parents and provide them with a stable house, lots of food, plenty of attention. They have friends, toys, games, books, musical instruments, bikes, and a whole neighborhood to explore. We are an extremely typical middle-class household. But left to their own devices, they will happily spend e…

I have wondered if this is materially different from previous generations children sitting glassy-eyed in front of the TV? I certainly spent at least a couple of hours a day doing that as a kid, with the added minus of having little control over what was on, or any way to block advertising... I suppose it did expose me to a lot of things I wouldn't have voluntarily sought out, though.

A couple of hours a day isn't great, but it's probably fine. That leaves you plenty of time for other things. Some kids these days spend far far longer than that in front of screens.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#113

Post by legerdemain »

globular-toast wrote: post #76
f6v wrote: post #15

Isn’t it like dieting? What I mean is that digital escapism is a symptom, not a problem. Before social media existed, people used to fill up their time with: 1) Having many children 2) Watching TV 3) Excessive alcohol use etc. Media addiction is a manifestation of something, not the root cause.

Yes, it is like dieting, but I don't agree that it's necessarily a symptom of some underlying problem. I used to think fat people were fat simply by choice. I mean, they are the only ones lifting the fork, right? But I no longer think it's this simple. We are the result of billions of years of evolution in a world where food was scarce. Those who didn't compete for food perished. Those who ate as much as they could w…

  > like all men, I do have as much sex as I possibly can
Uhm... uhhh... How can I put this... I'm not sure your universal characterisation is universal in reality. Far from all men are sex fiends and horndogs, only the vocally dissatisfied ones seem to be.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#114

Post by nonbirithm »

xwkd wrote: post #104

I truly appreciate your recognition of the problem and your sincere attempt at rectifying some of the behaviors that every generation is struggling with right now. I'd like to share some of my own personal experiences with the hope that it might influence your efforts in a positive direction. The reason that I don't watch porn anymore has very little to do with personal discipline and more to do with a reframing of t…

Unfortunately, there is a lot of porn that is created without using real actors, like drawing or writing, which reframes the commodity as something the author did because they like drawing or writing, not because they sacrificed their physical body and entered an actual industry. Many of these works have themes of sex positivity and belonging, and so my mind creates an exception for them, because I make the excuse that "it's not pornography at the lowest level, it's art with the occasional pornographic content."

Maybe those artists sacrificed something too, but I don't see how it's any different from any average author sacrificing his life to write an all-ages novel.

The worst thing about porn addiction is that there are no physical dealers or substances involved. As long as your body is intact, all you need to become addicted is a screen and enough privacy, two things that are almost always available right before you go to sleep. And even without a screen, you can still use your imagination. Getting past that means finding other things in life to do that are more satisfying.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#116

Post by irthomasthomas »

This is a refreshingly wholesome startup. Well done!

I am really interested in the social media blocking. I have been quitting social media for 5 or 6 years now. The hardest for me was Quora, I think. I don't know why, they where like the mafia: "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in" What worked for me was blocking them on the router and the hosts files[0]. This meant there where two steps to unlocking a blocked site. And for extra friction I used a long router password and don't save it. The longer it takes you to reach the thing, the more opportunity to change your mind.

The good news is that social media addiction is relatively quick and painless to cure. I stopped missing them after about a week.

And there are a lot of positive outcomes from quitting this stuff (especially for doomscrollers and dopamine junkies ;) I have been quitting a lot of stuff recently like sugar, sweeteners, coffee, carbs and processed food! And for a little while it's rough. Quitting anything will be rough for at least a few days. But as you strip away more sources of artificial dopamine stimulation, the body compensates, or maybe you just become more sensitive to it. Real life starts to give you some of that dopamine buzz that you where chasing online (or in a can of diet soda!)

But but now I start to feel little dopamine kicks whenever I take some small positive action like doing some exercise or fasting, or walking past the junk food.

[0] crowd sourced hosts files to block ads, social-media and porn: https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#117

Post by throwaway306744 »

globular-toast wrote: post #76
f6v wrote: post #15

Isn’t it like dieting? What I mean is that digital escapism is a symptom, not a problem. Before social media existed, people used to fill up their time with: 1) Having many children 2) Watching TV 3) Excessive alcohol use etc. Media addiction is a manifestation of something, not the root cause.

Yes, it is like dieting, but I don't agree that it's necessarily a symptom of some underlying problem. I used to think fat people were fat simply by choice. I mean, they are the only ones lifting the fork, right? But I no longer think it's this simple. We are the result of billions of years of evolution in a world where food was scarce. Those who didn't compete for food perished. Those who ate as much as they could w…

> Sex is similar. We are descended from males who mated with as many women as they could. Maybe not all men are like me, but there is a part of my brain that literally wants to mate with every attractive woman I see.

Not quite. We are descended from sexual pairs whose children survived long enough to reproduce. Often, it took at least both mother and father to keep children alive. And human female reproduction selects for males who stick around, primarily by hiding most signs of ovulation, unlike many other mammals with obvious signs of momentary fertility.

But you're not wrong either. Both male and female reproductive strategies want to maximize number and viability of offspring, but the female cost is much higher than the male cost in time and energy, so males can theoretically roam more easily. In the past, mobility and low populations generally limited that ability (though Genghis Khan managed). That's the disconnect between prehistoric and modern humans that porn and dating apps exploit.

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#118

Post by zero_billion »

ipsum2 wrote: post #108
zero_billion wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we're completely bootstrapped and haven't taken any external funding yet. we aren't sponsored by any church etc. and have no religious affiliation. restriction might help all addictions. But, we need to start somewhere, and we have chosen this specific problem. we plan to launch solutions for compulsive usage of technology products in the coming months and years.

> we're completely bootstrapped and haven't taken any external funding yet Didn't you take YC money? That sounds external and not bootstrapped to me. Unless they've changed the rules.

sorry, I missed YC. Other than YC we haven't taken any external funds. I forgot to add this as technically the funds still haven't hit our account (still paperwork is pending).

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#119

Post by zero_billion »

irthomasthomas wrote: post #116

This is a refreshingly wholesome startup. Well done! I am really interested in the social media blocking. I have been quitting social media for 5 or 6 years now. The hardest for me was Quora, I think. I don't know why, they where like the mafia: "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in" What worked for me was blocking them on the router and the hosts files[0]. This meant there where two steps to unlocki…

great to know that you were actually able to quit social media and other heavy dopamine stimulants. this is inspiring!

any specific resources/framework/books that helped you along this journey?

Re: Launch HN: Atmana (YC S21) – An app to help cut down on compulsive porn usage

#120

Post by xwkd »

nonbirithm wrote: post #114
xwkd wrote: post #104

I truly appreciate your recognition of the problem and your sincere attempt at rectifying some of the behaviors that every generation is struggling with right now. I'd like to share some of my own personal experiences with the hope that it might influence your efforts in a positive direction. The reason that I don't watch porn anymore has very little to do with personal discipline and more to do with a reframing of t…

Unfortunately, there is a lot of porn that is created without using real actors, like drawing or writing, which reframes the commodity as something the author did because they like drawing or writing, not because they sacrificed their physical body and entered an actual industry. Many of these works have themes of sex positivity and belonging, and so my mind creates an exception for them, because I make the excuse th…

This is true, and I wouldn't worry about the author or artist sacrificing aspects of their soul in the same way that I would a porn star. Hell, they produced art. Good for them I guess.

Even with erotica though, the insidious thing about chronic masturbation is that you just can't see the effect that it has on you. It's happening under the surface. It's happening to your heart. Your inescapable subconscious conscience is going to find a way to give you feedback, and it's going to be hard for you to see it.

People have written about sexual sublimation (in its various forms) for thousands of years because eventually some people have enough experience under their belt to look back and make the connection. You can't really expect a 15-year-old with an infinite porn machine to think to themselves, "Hmm, maybe it would be better for my heart not to mash my junk today." They're hungry, man. They're starving. And in 2021 we're doing everything we can to ensure that teenagers don't make the mistakes that they need to make in order to break free from that tap.

(Not to mention absent fathers, social changes, etc.)

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