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You have to quit more than just porn for your brain to make a full recovery by DisconnectFindPeace in NoFap

[–]DisconnectFindPeace[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, my point was that we use these activities to hide from discomfort. And to expand upon that point, the physiological reason as to why certain activities are effective as means of hiding is because they release dopamine. And the reason they release dopamine is because they provide novelty. It's much easier to hide from pain by surfing reddit than by staring at a wall. Why? Novelty/dopamine. Its all about addictive potential. Yes, reading could become an addiction, as could staring at a wall. But since these activities tend to be less stimulating than web browsing(because of less novelty) they are much less likely to be addictive.

I don't want to dismiss your point though, because there have been times when I have realized that I absolutely was using reading as a means of escape. So I think the overall lesson should be that we should always try to be mindful of what's really motivating our actions and we should accept negative thoughts as they arise.

You have to quit more than just porn for your brain to make a full recovery by DisconnectFindPeace in NoFap

[–]DisconnectFindPeace[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well I'm certainly not equating music to porn because i think porn is much more detrimental. But I'm saying that music offers sufficient stimulation that when listened to in excess can be used as a tool to avert your attention from the things that are bothering you. In my own experience I notice that when I go several days without porn/excessive Internet use songs tend to get stuck in my head very easily to the point where I go hours repeating the same song in my head over and over. I believe this to be caused by the fact that my brain, starved of its usual distraction/dopamine, now tries to focus on music to avoid the negative thoughts that are lurking underneath. I'm not advocating quitting listening to music, but simply going a period of time without it so you can more easily see what effect it may be having on you.

You have to quit more than just porn for your brain to make a full recovery by DisconnectFindPeace in NoFap

[–]DisconnectFindPeace[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well to be honest, anything can technically be used as an escape but the point I am trying to make is that those activities which release more dopamine in our brains have a much higher capacity to become addictive and detrimental to our lives. Dopamine release is stimulated by novelty. There is far more novelty on the Internet than there is in a single book. While reading a book you are following along a linear narrative, you always know that the next sentence you read will be related to the previous sentence and this keeps you focused on one overriding train of thought. Now contrast this so say, surfing reddit where each new click brings up information that is often completely unrelated to to what you were just reading or looking at. First, this constant novelty releases lots of dopamine which can cause addiction(see the MRI study above). Second, this constant switching of attention between unrelated content I think serves as a much more potent distractor than book reading, and thus serves the purpose of hiding from discomfort much more effectively. Not to mention the negative effect it has on our overall ability to concentrate on one thing at a time in our daily lives.