I’ve talked about my porn addiction in the past here, but I’m not here to talk about it again. Instead, there’s something else I realised. Something far deeper…
I think most of us know how overly sexualised everything is right now. Movies, music videos, social media posts. And, yes, our main concern about this is the children exposed to these. Even kids’ content seems to sneak fetishes into everything. If the case of Nickelodeon taught us anything, it’s that they’ve been doing this for years.
And I think that I am a victim. I’ve started watching porn at about age 13, yes, but… there’s something far deeper than that… I feel like it was… inevitable. As far back as primary school I remembered how I imagined these weird scenarios in my head that weren’t really sexual, but definitely did have some undertones to them.
I don’t know the reason. I don’t know if it was everything around me that influenced these thoughts, or if this is simply just how I was born, but… it’s a sickness, and we’ve all caught it. And there is no cure.
I truly fear for the future of our world, for the brainrot that we keep talking about on the internet comes from more than shitty memes and phrases. We call ourselves “civilised” but we’re all just a bunch of fucking animals, and everyday I start to agree with Viltrum a bit more.
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You might be interested in reading up on pornification if you haven’t gone down a research rabbit hole on that already.
I agree that cultural messages influence us a lot. But I don’t go 100% in on the technological determinism perspective that we’re controlled by it and that it limits our free will.
I know you said that there’s no cure in your original post… but is that what you really think? That we can’t think better, live better, than messages in media?
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A man has greater chances to psychologically recover from a year in Arkham Asylum than a whole life of being bombarded by sexual depravities that disguise themselves through everyday content. I’ve tried. Time and time again. Each one longer than the previous. But after exhausting everything I could possibly do, I’ve just gotta accept that there may be no exit from this hell.
So what will you do instead? Once you’ve woken up to stuff like this, can you really go back to sleep?
Truly, I have no idea. I already had trouble sleeping before this anyway. I don’t know what I can do.
Well, hopefully someone who’s found a better alternative can jump in and share.
In the meantime, I bet because you’ve tried lots of different angles, you’ve tried replacing brainrot content with different activities and content. If that’s right, what happened when you did this? (I’m expecting no one can achieve a perfect removal from brainrot and sexualized media unless they become a recluse, but interested what happened for you when you shifted the balance).
I did start feeling better when I did. I exercised, ate healthier, reduced screen time, tried meditation and also tried socializing more.
It worked. For a bit. But much like all my other attempts before joining Mojo, it all came crashing down eventually.
I’ve lost all motivation to do anything. These urges were killing me, I couldn’t go one hour without thinking about them, and I generally just couldn’t relax, no matter how much I’ve tried. Coupled up with the fact that I was overwhelmed with work, a long-distance relationship, and the fact that I know that a lot of the people I socialize with secretly dislike me, it was inevitable.
Now, I just don’t see a point in trying anything anymore. These activities
on the app can be useful to many, but they’ve lost their magic on me. Meditation simply never worked for me. And reducing screen time only added to my stress and generally didn’t help in making my sleep any better.
That’s what I mean when I say there is no cure. It can be avoided, but like you said, you’d have to be a recluse. Everywhere you go you can’t avoid the brainrot. You’re getting harassed and traumatized without even knowing it.
I think you’ve hit on the important part — a good plan or new regime is easy to get on board with. But the real thing that matters is what happens when the urges are strong or life is shit.
I think living a good life that suits our values and that builds us up to be the kind of person we want to be takes constant renewal. And that’s more difficult when it feels like we’re swimming against a strong current or prevailing wind (which can be the urges, the life being shit, or the cultural defaults).
You’ve mentioned a lot of things that, at one point at least, you were swimming against, like work and wondering if your friends really like you. I don’t know how they’re going right now, but I guess it’s not just porn and media on your mind, and lots of things are adding to this sense that you may as well collapse and give up. I can tell that figuring out this brainrot/pornification of mainstream media is important to you, but I wonder if you need to cut yourself some slack and rest for a bit. And then when you feel you can maybe work on different pieces of what’s weighing on you — confidence, connection, knowing what you’re really about, etc. It’s such a tall order to perfect your media consumption and rewrite a lifetime of living in society before those are feeling in a decentish place.
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I haven’t figured out what “rest” and “cutting myself some slack” is. I was supposed to be doing all that to improve myself and feel more relaxed, but now I’m not sure what I’m doing anymore.
Figuring it out definitely takes some experimentation — rest is serious business 
As a starter, do something that you liked as a child. Do it for the hell of it, and see if some part of you still connects with it, still feels relaxed, or gets anything out of it. If, when you’re ideating and remembering what you liked as a kid, you realize that the answers all seem trivial or not particularly productive… all the better. If you don’t remember that far back or the memories aren’t great, then just guess what younger you would have liked. And just try it, and if it sucks, try the next idea.