Urges to Watch Porn
With the rise of smartphone devices and their easy accessibility, combined with the breakneck Wi-Fi speeds, everyone around the world today has instant access to millions of hours worth of sex.
At any given moment, there are somewhere between 5 and 10 trillion web pages online. That’s a lot of adult content to look at, and even more so when you consider that this is only the beginning. As more and more people become aware of the dangers of visiting websites that contain adult-related materials or that link to undesirable web addresses, they’re getting better at staying away from such websites.
However, as easy as it is to stay away from adult content sites and third-party links, it can be difficult at times. If you’re like most people these days, you likely find yourself falling into several regular patterns when it comes to your Internet usage habits.
You may see a peak every so often for no reason other than to check for adult content or sites that host pornography. Or perhaps you never know what day it is because by the time you hit “publish” on your blog post or “view” on your YouTube video, you’ve already checked out adult content several times over.
If you’re currently reading this, there’s a strong possibility that you’ve watched porn on various occasions. While for some, it provides the most exhilarating feeling of being able to watch their favorite pornstar over and over again. For many others, excessive porn use has led to a deliberate downward spiral of depression. The list of mental health issues related to porn just continues.
Why does One Crave Porn(Not Sex!)?
What you need to understand is, pornography addiction is much more than just the need to look at nude pictures and videos all day and night. It is deeply connected to the chemicals in our brain, and how our mind functions. An individual’s brain reacting to porn consumption is a complicated process.
Our bodies are wired in such a way that any sexual activity produces large amounts of dopamine. Any form of sex, masturbation, and porn usage will all cause our brains to produce dopamine, and ultimately end up making us crave more of it. This is precisely the reason people become addicted to pornography. Due to how accessible it is, it makes it very easy for anyone to satisfy their craving for pornographic content. Consumption of this kind soon creates a vicious cycle, wherein in an attempt to increase your dopamine levels you will find yourself constantly reaching out for pornographic content, adding to the addiction.
You might be attempting to break this vicious cycle for quite some time now, but the fact that PornHub is only a fingertip away might not be helping. The first step in this process would be to download a porn blocker like BlockerX on all your devices. However, sometimes this might not be enough. Even though you might not be watching porn in any form, it might still be a thought lingering in the back of your head. Such thoughts will only hinder your progress.
5 Tips to stop Urges to Watch Porn
1. Start your Day by Stating your Intentions
Every day, the first thing you wake up, make a commitment to remain sober and connected to your goals for the entire day. Recovery never happens by accident, it requires action on your part. Before the day begins, remind yourself why you’re choosing to do this, and throughout the days of thought of porn crop up, go back to those reasons you stated and use them as a way of diverting your attention.
2. Avoid Being by Yourself for Extended Periods of Time
It’s easier to give in to your temptations when you’re alone. Throughout the day, make an effort to surround yourself with the company you enjoy. Instead of having lunch/dinner by yourself in your room, sit at the dining table for meals with your family and friends. Take a walk and feel the cool breeze on your skin and watch h some dogs play at the park. Little things like these can really help you keep yourself distracted and will help a great deal with your progress.
3. Limit your Internet Usage
For a while stick to using the internet only in the family rooms of your house, rather than in your private room. This gives you one less chance to cheat and shove your recovery down the drain. Limit your internet usage for work or emergency purposes, for a short period if your thoughts about porn get too excessive. If you feel like watching a movie online, invite a friend to join and give you company!
4. Meditate
Lots of researchers, doctors, and experts in various fields have stood by the effectiveness of meditation. Over the years, many ex-porn users say it played a significant role in their battle to get rid of the addiction. This type of meditation increases dopamine levels by 65%, which helps combat the chronically low dopamine levels from which addicts suffer.
Anytime you find your thoughts going astray, take out 15 minutes of your day to do some meditation exercises. You can follow an informative YouTube video or even download an app that can help you meditate.
5. Replace Sexual Behaviour with Healthier Alternatives
Attempting to replace porn or sexual desires and behaviors with another activity that is considered conventionally acceptable and healthy is not a good bet. There aren’t many healthy alternatives that can replace the “high” one gets from sex or masturbation. Accepting this is a huge part of recovery. Although, what you can do is, fill your day with activities and tasks that you normally enjoy, at spaced-out intervals. This will help produce dopamine in your body throughout the day and reduce your association of it with porn.
Conclusion
Always remember, you have the power to change your mental attitude, adjust your mindset, and create a better future. The choice is yours. For sometime you might feel hopeless, but you need to maintain your willpower. We hope the tips mentioned above help you in building a better life. Hope it helps you in understanding the psychology behind your addiction.
Staying safe online is crucial, but it’s not the be-all, end-all when it comes to protecting your computer or device from online threats. Yes, staying safe online requires awareness and a good knowledge of the safeguards and pitfalls of the Internet. But at the same time, it doesn’t mean you have to fall into the same habits that put you in danger in the first place. With that in mind, here are a few tips to help you kickstart a healthier online lifestyle:
Don’t be too perfectionistic when it comes to your online usage. A large portion of Internet traffic is unsecure, and you don’t want to put yourself at risk by connecting to an unsecure connection.
Remember that the Internet is a global village, so don’t be shy about sharing your location. This might seem like overkill on the first two points, but it’s still important to consider your Internet usage when deciding where to publish your location.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Making mistakes is actually one of the things that makes you successful online. If you’ve been online for a while and spot a pattern in your online behaviors that you think could use improvement, feel free to let go of the past and try a new approach.
This will result in you overcoming the obsession that is holding you back from achieving greatness. If you found this article helpful, do let us know in the comments below! That will help us put out more similar content to this.
