The widespread use of Internet porn is one of the fastest-moving, most global experiments ever unconsciously conducted. But it’s not the only groundbreaking porn experiment going on today. 

Devastated by sexual performance problems or other crippling symptoms (such as morphing sexual tastes, loss of attraction to real mates, and uncharacteristic desire to isolate), users are taking the initiative. They are conducting their own counter-experiments by the thousands. By stopping porn use and sharing their “findings” publicly, these guys are, in effect, the missing control group of non-porn users that researchers say they can’t produce. (In 2009, when researcher Simon Lajeunesse attempted to investigate the effects of Internet porn on college guys, he couldn’t find any who weren’t using it.)

Why do control groups matter? Imagine if all guys started smokingheavily at age 10 and there were no groups who didn’t. We’d all assume lung cancer was normal for guys.

In the case of Internet porn, usage is nearly universal among today’s young males. Without control groups, it has been hard to know which, if any, of their diverse symptoms, might be arising from years of continuous Internet porn use.

Informal control groups to the rescue

At last, humanity has a way of comparing Internet erotica use with non-use on a wide scale. Sure, it’s not ideal. It’s not double-blind and it’s not randomized. But this new informal experiment has its own advantages that many formal studies lack: It is international, very large, public, and growing. 

Thousands of experimenters are springing up in all kinds of forums where men congregate: bodybuilding sites, pick-up artist sites, information sites, sports sites, etc, and the threads are often thousands of posts long. (Click on collage above for a sample.)

One active pocket of explorers is on www.reddit.com, a popular hangout for today’s youngish Internet-savvy males. Most of reddit.com is militantly pro-porn use, which makes the 10,000+ Reddit “[No] Fapstronauts” bold indeed. (A Fapstronaut describes the Reddit 90-day challenge.)

For the uninitiated, “fapping” is slang for masturbating to Internet porn. Most young men in the Reddit generation have not masturbated without the aid of the Internet, so for them porn and masturbation are synonymous. In fact, many are surprised to discover that, when they give up Internet porn and their brains return to normal sensitivity, climaxwithout porn is a more sensual, satisfying experience.

Porn-loving detectives at work

Why would a porn-loving guy quit? Symptoms vary, but most guys quit only because they figure out that they may have developed porn-related sexual dysfunction. Two guys explain:

Guy 1: When I started no-fap, I couldn’t even get hard on porn. That is how addicted I was. Watching porn had become a daily habit for me, not something I did because I was horny.

Guy 2: I noticed my behavior and mojo would change depending on if/when I fapped, yet still I heard all around me that masturbating/porn is normal and healthy. But I had difficulty finishing with my girlfriends. I actually faked orgasm to hide this, and dreaded [receiving oral sex] without using my hands. To fix it, I’d not fap until after I met them for sex.

What kinds of improvements do no-fappers report?

Rebooter from our forum: I’ve just reached 5 weeks of no porn, no masturbation. I’m over the flu-like [withdrawal] symptoms and I’ve started hitting the weights again. It feels good to be squatting again. ROAR! Theinsomnia has gotten better, though there are still restless nights, but my quality of sleep has improved dramatically. I’ve also noticed some morning wood.

Redditor: I don’t mean to come across as melodramatic, but suicide was a serious daily contemplation. I hated other people, who seemed so cheery, and was just angry and frustrated. [Quitting porn] has changed me for the better. I feel like life is once again worth living.

Others are rediscovering what it’s like to enjoy social interactions and be attracted to real mates, what full erections are, and how great intercourse feels to a brain that is no longer desensitized. Many reportimprovements in confidence, mental clarity, charisma, vocal quality, self-respect, and ability to socialize and flirt. They feel like themselves again, or perhaps for the first time. After all, a fish only grasps the concept of water when it leaves it behind. In short, the very symptoms psychologist Philip Zimbardo describes in his short TED talk about the effects of “Internet arousal addiction,” are receding in these “test subjects.”

Distressing news

The only worrying bit of data from the informal control groups is that porn addicts who cut their teeth on highspeed are not recovering their sexual performance as quickly as those who engaged in courtship/mating behaviors with real partners before they dove into highspeed. This is more evidence that today’s porn has different effects on some brains from static porn of the past.

Unfortunately, this generally means that a younger guy with sexual performance problems can expect a slower recovery than a guy who has been using porn far longer. Adolescent brains with early access to limitless highspeed porn appear to be more vulnerable to its effects than older brains. This phenomenon is consistent with the unique features of the adolescent brain, and the way brains prune back unused circuitry by adulthood, possibly leaving some porn fans stranded with a strong attraction to pixels only.

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See full article here: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-arrow/201203/the-other-porn-experiment