15 Reasons Why You Should Stop Watching Porn

If you want to be successful in your life then I’m here to give you 15 reasons why you should stop watching porn.

This has nothing to do with morals, religion or any of that. It’s simply looking at the damaging side effects watching porn has on your ability to be successful.

If you’re someone who frequently watches porn and you think you may have an addiction, read on and you may be in for a shock…

The Dangers Of Porn Addiction

Whilst most addictions ruin lives I’m going to tell you that porn addiction is probably the most insidious and dangerous facing you today.

I know that’s a big claim to make. I mean how can pornography addiction be worse compared to cocaine, heroin, or alcohol addiction for instance?

The main reason is that there is no limit to consumption. With drugs, alcohol or food there is only so much one can consume.

There is also no cost to porn (I mean who actually pays these days?), so again nothing is limiting your consumption.

The third reason that makes it extremely dangerous is that it plays on the primary purpose of our DNA, which is to reproduce. Sex actually activates the same reward center circuits that meth, cocaine and heroin do and that’s why it can become highly addictive.

In fact, a study at Brigham Young University College of Nursing found that “pornography consumption can be as ‘mood altering’ and as addictive as narcotics.”

There is another bonus reason why porn addiction is the most dangerous we’re facing today and that is endless amounts of novelty. You can click to a new video in an instant! Getting bored? No problem! Click to something new and keep going for hours upon hours.

There are around 42 million porn websites, which totals around 370 million pages of porn and nearly one in four Internet search queries is about porn. That’s 68 million a day!

Porn sites receive more regular traffic than Netflix, Amazon, & Twitter combined each month. (HuffPost)

In 2019 alone, the equivalent of nearly 6,650 centuries of porn was consumed on one of the world’s largest porn sites. (source)

Most people don’t think there could be much harm to enjoying some porn so read on…

Why You Should Stop Watching Porn If You Want To Be Successful

So I’ve covered why I believe porn addiction is probably the worst in our society today. Below are 15 reasons why you should stop watching porn to be successful.

1. Addictions Ruin Life

When you’re addicted to something it usually ruins your life in multiple areas and watching porn is no different. Think about the wasted time and money its costing you alone.

Some people will say they have a rather successful life and still watch porn and that maybe fine. What I’m suggesting is that you have no idea just how much things can improve until you stop watching.

2. It Causes Depression

Watching porn releases large amounts of dopamine in our brains. If you constantly watch porn and masturbate to orgasm the brain down-regulates dopamine receptors as a way to maintain homoeostasis.

When it does this you typically need to watch more to feel good. But what’s worse is that the pleasure you gain from everyday activities also doesn’t feel as good anymore.

Everyday life turns kinda shit.

Now it could be that you turned to internet porn as a way to feel good in the first place, as a way to numb yourself from depression and everything else going on in life. Unfortunately the reality is that you’re only fucking yourself up a whole lot more in the process.

3. It Weakens Willpower

Compared to other creatures on earth, human beings have a very well developed prefrontal region. It is where we do our abstract thinking, make goals, solve problems, regulate behaviour, and where we suppress emotions, impulses, and urges.

As dopamine receptors decline in the brain, so do the amount of neural cells in the prefrontal lobes. This then weakens your willpower. This is what makes quitting porn addiction challenging.

Can you see how it could impact your ability to take action on the things required to make you successful? A real physical change in your brain results in weakened willpower.

Tip: Meditation is actually proven to strengthen the frontal lobes and is also recommended for people wanting to quit watching porn.

4. It Destroys Productivity

Because there are no limits to consumption with internet porn you can spend as long as you want watching it.

The average porn addicted male watches anywhere between 4 to 12 hours per week. That’s essentially an entire work day wasted that you’ll never get back.

But what’s worse is that if you’re addicted to porn and watching it throughout the day then you’re wasting countless other hours of productive work pretty much every day.

Symptoms such as ADHD, OCD, poor focus, poor concentration, and low motivation can all be traced back to arousal addiction and porn use because of the physical changes that occur in the brain. Skeptical? Just stop for 90 days and see what happens.

5. It Lowers Your Motivation

When your dopamine receptors decline due to watching pornography and over masturbation it greatly affects your motivation to do anything.

You become numb to everyday pleasures and it becomes difficult to become motivated because you’re unable to appreciate the pleasure as you usually would have.

Let’s look at this another way. When you pleasure yourself to porn your primitive brain thinks that it has achieved its primary purpose of spreading its genes.

Now if you are doing that every day or even a few times a week (note: real sex is different) then you’ll find it very hard to do anything else.

Why go to all the effort to do something worthwhile to feel good when you can make yourself feel good with a few clicks?

6. You’ll Start Hating Your Body

When you watch porn you can unconsciously start comparing yourself to the actors and very quickly develop insecurities about your body and a poor self-image.

Now to compare yourself to a porn star would be ridiculous because they are chosen for the way they look. Even after that, there is plenty of makeup, surgery and photoshop edits to make them look the way they do.

Having said that, it will fill you with a false sense of reality.

7. Porn Causes Us to Stop Appreciating People

Expanding on the previous reason, the world of porn is designed to appeal to our fantasies where everything is perfect. Because of that its easy to stop appreciating real partners.

A lot of men in particular say that when they stopped watching porn they found women to be more beautiful.

The other thing is that when you watch porn you’re spending less time on cultivating real relationships.

8. It Can Cause Erectile Dysfunction, Premature Ejaculation And Delayed Ejaculation

The number one reason you should stop watching porn is that it can lead to porn-induced erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation and even delayed ejaculation.

Watching porn is actually a cause of less sex, less satisfying sex and eventually no sex.

The anxiety this causes in men is lethal all on its own.

What most men don’t realize is that watching porn actually causes changes in the brain. There are numerous psychological changes happening at a subconscious level.

The problem is that porn is fake, it’s creates unrealistic beliefs and perceptions and its far from reality.

You can become so accustomed to being able to get an erection to certain types of images, themes and scenarios that when it comes to the real thing you won’t be able to perform.

Be honest with yourself, do you find that you can maintain a rock hard erection for long periods of time watching porn but can barely last minutes with a real person?

If this is you then rest assured these changes will reverse when you stop watching porn and give the brain a chance to rewire itself.

9. It Can Change Sexual Preferences

Watching porn can lead to changing sexual preferences which is pretty scary.

In the pursuit of your next dopamine hit you may find yourself requiring more extreme scenarios or porn that offers greater shock value to get you aroused.

10. It’s a Cause of Social Anxiety and Low Self-Confidence

Porn might make you question a lot of things; your abilities in the bedroom, your physical appearance, your relationships.

There is also an inherit shame that comes from watching porn. Unconsciously you don’t feel really good about yourself.

For men, watching porn and excessively masturbating lowers testosterone and increases prolactin. The change in these hormones results in greater levels of anxiety and less confidence.

11. It Can Promote Violence Against Women

In a lot of porn videos online, women are treated in ways that should never be repeated in real life but if you keep watching women being abused and raped, very slowly it can alter your beliefs about whats acceptable.

It’s a dangerous one and a very good reason to stop right now.

12. Leads To A Better Sex Life

A great reason to stop watching porn is that doing so will lead to a better sex life with real partners.

You’ll find that when you quit watching porn you’ll have more energy, more stamina, better quality erections and more satisfying sex in general.

Even if you only watch a few times a week or even once a week I implore you to cut it out of your life completely to see the real benefits.

13. Greater Cognitive Function

A community of people that abstain from porn and masturbation known as NoFap typically list the clearing of brain fog, greater focus, greater concentration, increased motivation and creativity as some of the “superpowers” they experience from NoFap.

Again, when you masturbate and are spiking your dopamine for hours per day you are not only causing physical changes to your brain like the loss of grey matter but you are also losing vital nutrients through excessive ejaculation.

If you want to be successful in life then there can simply be no place for porn in it.

14. Increased energy

Another “superpower” that a lot of the NoFap community usually mentions is that they just have a lot more energy. There is just a lot more get up and go.

Just Google or Youtube Nofap benefits for the countless benefits and experiences that come from doing NoFap.

15. You’ll Become Successful Almost Automatically

I saved the best reason for last. When you stop watching porn and you stop giving yourself instant gratification from the pleasure of orgasm with a few mouse clicks well then you actually have to go out into the world and do something valuable to get the same pleasurable feelings.

Whether you’re male of female, when you stop watching porn and pleasuring yourself for nothing you will then have to elevate your value to attract real partners and this causes you to become successful.

How To Quit Porn Addiction

Fortunately the brain is neuroplastic and so all the side effects can be reversed if you simply stop watching.

Whilst I’m certainly no specialist in this area my common sense and research leads me to offer you 3 suggestions to help you quit porn addiction:

1. Block Porn Sites

Simply cut the supply. If you’re serious about doing so then use a parental control or porn blocking software. Don’t trick yourself into thinking you can use willpower because as already listed above its already been weakened.

2. Don’t Isolate Yourself

If you’re addicted to porn don’t allow yourself to be alone. Make sure you get out of your room and meet people. Meet real potential partners.

If you work alone then join a co-working space or start working from your local coffee shop.

3. Tell Yourself The Truth

A lot of people use porn to escape pain, boredom or depression. They’re looking for a quick feel good fix to their life’s challenges. Unfortunately in the process porn slowly destroys their lives and leaves them with more problems.

If this is you then be honest with yourself. What pain are you trying to avoid? What are you trying to escape from. Face it and deal with it. Talk to someone and get the appropriate help you need.

One of the best ways to overcome porn addiction is to keep yourself busy doing something meaningful. You can find new hobbies but I would suggest focusing on finding a meaningful goal that you can work towards.

Recommended Resources To Stop Watching Porn

I hope these 15 reasons why you should stop watching porn were eye-opening enough for you to be inspired to quit watching porn, however, some of the resources below will also help:

1. This article 31 NoFap Benefits That Will Change Your Life will give you even more motivation to stop watching porn and take a break from compulsive sexual behaviors.
2. Yourbrainonporn.com is a great website where you’ll find more research, scientific studies, and advice on how to quit watching porn.
3. The Rebooting Accounts Section, in particular, will give you a greater insight into the symptoms and side effects people experienced while watching porn and how they recovered when quitting porn. I think you’ll find it pretty motivating. At the same time, I hope it gives you the peace of mind that the brain is neuroplastic and that you can recover.
4. The Official Reddit NoFap Forum is another great resource where you can share, discuss and find a healthy support network.

The video below can be found on yourbrainonporn.com but its an excellent video that will further highlight what exactly happens to your brain when you watch porn.

Summary

We’re at the end of this article on why you should quit watching porn. Hopefully, a lot of the points have inspired you to make the change and quit your addiction. For those seeking success, there are numerous dopamine detox benefits and NoFap is one of the strategies that allow you to do that.

Here are the 15 reasons why you should stop watching porn again:

1. Addictions Ruin Life
2. It Causes Depression
3. It Weakens Willpower
4. It Destroys Productivity
5. It Lowers Your Motivation
6. You’ll Start Hating Your Body
7. Porn Causes Us To Stop Appreciating People
8. It Can Cause Erectile Dysfunction, Premature Ejaculation and Delayed Ejaculation
9. It Can Change Sexual Preferences
10. It’s A Cause of Social Anxiety and Low Self-Confidence
11. It Can Promote Violence Against Women
12. Leads To A Better Sex Life
13. Greater Cognitive Function
14. Increased Energy
15. You’ll Become Successful Almost Automatically

When are you going to stop watching porn for good? Leave a comment below.