Shout out to the advice someone gave here: there’s a TedX talk “the great porn experiment” that speaks precisely to the chemical (physical) wiring in our brain from use of porn.
I want to be clear. Until five minutes ago I would never have said I had a porn addiction. Never.
I would say it’s under control. That I only watched once a day; maybe five times a week.
But it was an addiction. I was in control, but it’s been affecting the writing in my brain for years now. I just didn’t know it until ED showed up for me.
I’m in my mid-30s and experiencing ED for the first time.
I NOW know that the porn use all this time was re-wiring my brain and the reward centers.
I also now know that it takes longer for younger men (20s) to recover (4-5 months after stopping porn) than older men (50+, 2 months after stopping) because older men weren’t introduced to todays internet porn until later in their development.
This is huge news for me… and you.
I’m 23 days clean without looking at porn (I use habit tracker app), and I’m very excited about being clear for five months and what it’ll do for my own well being.
The research from that talk had stories of better confidence, better engagement, better motivation after long gaps with no porn because our brains are wiring our reward centers in a traditional way again.
So shoutout to whomever recommended that video. That talk on top of ALL the helpful information I’ve learned here is helping me through this.
I’m two rounds of sex past my worst ED and have brighter days ahead because of this app and this community.