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What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

economist.com

71–80 of 108 posts

Re: What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

#71
post #55

So kids are forgoing realworld sex. When did that become a bad thing? My whole school life I was 'encouraged' to avoid sex, alcohol and every other vice at all costs. Going to a party on a friday night was a bad thing. Sex, whether through disease or pregnancy, would destroy your life. This is still the mantra, although nobody then told me that sex would send me to hell. That part is new. So why are we not surprised…

This is exactly why I'm not so worried about overpopulation or even immortality. In fact, it's going to get a lot "worse" when you know you're immortal. Why would you have kids by 30 or 40 then? Heck, why have kids by your 1,000th anniversary?

There are most likely some people who would want to have kids under those circumstances. To the extent that the traits that lead them to act that way under those circumstances are heritable, either genetically or through parents-raising-kids (some religions are obvious candidates here), these traits would be selected for in subsequent generations. If a supermajority of people lack these traits, the problem may be put off for some generations, but eventually it will make itself felt. That said, I think there are a few possible solutions, and I certainly am in favor of developing immortality.

Re: What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

#72
Every once in a while we get this kind of articles that tries to create a story from a few studies that have found loose correlations (but never causation) between what people watch on cinema, TV and now computers/mobile phones, and what they do in real life.

The problem is that if the theory of modified norms and behavior has for all the studies never been strongly linked. In theory, we should all be committing much more crime and violence in direct relation to the ease of access to news and movies, but crimes have steady gone down rather than up. Yearly statistics do show however an increased fear of crime in relation to reading news and watching movies, so it seems our perception about others behaviors has had a much larger impact than on our own behavior.

Re: What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

#73
post #72

Every once in a while we get this kind of articles that tries to create a story from a few studies that have found loose correlations (but never causation) between what people watch on cinema, TV and now computers/mobile phones, and what they do in real life. The problem is that if the theory of modified norms and behavior has for all the studies never been strongly linked. In theory, we should all be committing much…

Related to the subject of declining violence: http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-bill-gates-re...

Re: What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

#74

So kids are forgoing realworld sex. When did that become a bad thing? My whole school life I was 'encouraged' to avoid sex, alcohol and every other vice at all costs. Going to a party on a friday night was a bad thing. Sex, whether through disease or pregnancy, would destroy your life. This is still the mantra, although nobody then told me that sex would send me to hell. That part is new. So why are we not surprised…

>So kids are forgoing realworld sex. When did that become a bad thing?

Since the sexual revolution.

Re: What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

#75
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There may be something to that, given porn in Japan has been prevalent for longer, albeit, pixelated and they are going through population contraction due to many people of reproductive age being kind of indifferent to real sex.

Is it really the case that porn has been prevalent in Japan for longer than in e.g. the U.S.? I imagined they are about the same.

In Japan it's more prevalent (and more kinky).

Re: What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really like that quote. I was thinking, G. K. Chesterton, or maybe C. S. Lewis on a good day, but it actually seems to be from Pope John Paul II! “There is no dignity when the human dimension is eliminated from the person. In short, the problem with pornography is not that it shows too much of the person, but that it shows far too little.” --Pope John Paul II

The pope is bound to be a foremost expert on porn and sexual attraction.

Why not? Did anybody said that catholics, including priests, don't use porn and don't feel sexual attraction?

Re: What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

#77

So kids are forgoing realworld sex. When did that become a bad thing? My whole school life I was 'encouraged' to avoid sex, alcohol and every other vice at all costs. Going to a party on a friday night was a bad thing. Sex, whether through disease or pregnancy, would destroy your life. This is still the mantra, although nobody then told me that sex would send me to hell. That part is new. So why are we not surprised…

What you're talking about is puritanism or something like it. That's different from saying that the sexual needs of people should be emulated with porn. Even if the consequences are similar – less real sex with people and thus functional abstinence – I think puritans were more concerned with the timing and focus of sexual thoughts, i.e. control, over just indulging the whim without sophistication.

A bit handwavy but I'm mainly trying to say that different things are different.

Re: What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

#78
post #36

It is very easy to find sexual release with internet porn. More difficult with a real life woman. And therein lies the collapse of western civilization.

I wonder how many problems in the middle east would be solved by bringing em' easy access to porn...

They already do. I used to work for a company where we would see Internet traffic routing all over the world and the middle east was no different in having several porn sites in their top ten most visited.

Sorry, this hasn't seemed to solve it.

Re: What is online pornography doing to sexual tastes and youngsters’ minds?

#80
post #25
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lsc: your comment is marked [dead].

Oh man, I would find a shadowban, especially over something so overtly political so amusing! Of course, it's probably just a technical glitch.

What is a shadow ban? Any links?
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