While I think that the porn industry has inherent problems and some people get addicted to it. For me its preachers like GP that are doing our society a great disservice by moralizing and putting perfectly normal humam behaviors down as "perversion".
There's only one solution to each problem and it's what this wise, moral person is selling because if it works for them, then it's the only possible truth.
Any of the common “vices” like gambling, porn, Skinner box games, some drugs are difficult for people to manage. That dopamine hit burns behavioral pathways into the brain and is tough to undo.
Watching porn is not a bad thing. Obviously, if you're talking about addiction then perhaps, but do you think people are addicted to porn (on average) to the extent others are to those other vices?
Likewise, gambling and drugs impact you both physically and mentally, whereas the evidence for porn's impact on either is questionable at best.
Like gambling, it’s easy to fall into a behavior pattern that is similar to gambling. ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4600144/ ) I’m not sure of the pervasiveness of gambling or porn addiction, it isn’t my field.
There’s a reason why online porn pivoted to a model similar to YouTube — it’s a model that drives engagement, and you very commonly hear evidence that YouTube has a very significant addiction, even for toddlers.
Although I disagree. I'm not sure if porn has a model that drives engagement?
Let's be honest, are most people really watching porn, having a wank, then watching the rest of the porn? Probably not, so I am not sure how the engagement model of porn is similar to YouTube.
Having said that, with OnlyFans and other such sites, the porn landscape is certainly evolving, and perhaps it is that landscape (than porn hub) that is more engaging because there's the human element, e.g., you can ask an only fans person to say your name whereas you cannot when watching videos.
>Let's be honest, are most people really watching porn, having a wank, then watching the rest of the porn? I'm not sure if porn has a model that drives engagement?
It's very easy, incentivized even, to open 10 tabs and switch through each to "optimize" the orgasm, finding the exact clip to reach orgasm. And much like social media influencers take many different photos and pick the ones that are the best, the same is done with the creation of porn. People don't finish the porn videos, you're right, but a lot of people also don't finish Youtube videos either. I think it's irrelevant whether they're finishing them - what drives engagement here is discovery of novel pornographic content. There are almost infinite possibilities for what one can watch. The problem with porn today is it's artificial and plentiful. So the model is to abuse our psychology to seek novelty as well as our desire to have many sexual partners. The engagement is in the desire to see many new and novel scenes at each session and the user's anticipation of another "porn session".
I enjoy drinking alcohol and have no issues with it, but that doesn’t mean acknowledging that alcoholism is a thing is a problem or some judgemental act.
The same cannot be said for porn consumption. While studies exist, this is not a well understood topic, and big claims are going to be met with skepticism and demands for evidence.
If you look, you will find plenty of inquiry, debate and research into the topic.
I’m pretty curious about the topic, and this is an inquisitive community in general. Unfortunately, the way you’ve presented your position is not helpful, especially for a group that tends to demand scientific proof or at least a well formed hypothesis.
Now bring in the porn websites and you will realise how it programs the user's mind in a similar way. Eg. After some time, some people will exhibit cuckold, submission/domination, incest behaviour in real life. Some will look at an older woman and not see a mother but a milf. Hope you get the point. I don't have any scientific proof but I used to be a porn user myself. You are welcome to research the subject further if you are interested.
Referring back to the parent comment, as the stimulation of vanilla porn becomes boring, the user will need to watch more and more hyper stimulating material. Not dissimilar from a drug user. Some lose the interest in regular real life sex altogether or need to incorporate their porn habits into it.
I don't mean to generalize so if you don't think it applies to you then move on, but if you are interested in self improvement then tread these waters carefully.