this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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Porn is just not naked humans. It's not like art. And the behavior in those movies rubs off on teenage guys, so they start to behave like in the movies.
I mean, I still think adding health warning is stupid, but at the same time, we can't pretend porn doesn't influence people.
The behavior of the actors in porn does not "rub off on" (lol) on the viewer any more than violent movies rub off on the viewer.
I'd be more concerned about the guys watching the assholes on YouTube making videos about how to be an "alpha male".
You are actually wrong about that. Do some web searches on it and you will see.
That's not how it works. If you are making the claim, it's your responsibility to back that claim up with supporting information.
IMO it's everyone's responsibility to themselves to challenge and research things that they want to know the truth about. If the other poster is correct but has no desire to follow up with it, they will still be correct.
The burden of proof is on those who want to know the truth. Unless it's in a court of law, though even there, IMO the adversarial system is outdated and if someone is innocent, the prosecution and police should be working to determine that, not just trying to prove guilt at all costs.
The burden of proof is on the one making the claim. No exceptions.
It's an internet conversion, there's no burden on anyone unless they have a goal. Wanting to convince others puts the burden on the one making the claim, but if they aren't interested in putting that much effort into it, that doesn't invalidate the claim, which talking about the burden of proof being on anyone else is trying to do.
Even if someone does make the effort to prove something, if knowing the truth is important to you, you should look at other perspectives.
This is exactly how I think about things also. Which is why I dropped this conversation. But it's a fact that porn changes the perception of sex to a huge degree. But young guys don't even see it because they don't have any previous experience to compare to.
Yeah I shouldn't have bothered engaging, but that line just annoys me. It's just a smarter sounding "nuh-uh!". A better way to go about it IMO would be to ask something like, "what makes you think that?"
I don't disagree with you, which is why I'm hoping the person I replied to, who told me to "do some searches" actually does some for themselves. So hopefully they can learn that there's hardly an epidemic of porn viewing related risks to physical/mental health. I'm not saying there are zero, I'm simply saying that it's not at all occurring at levels worthy of mandating warnings.
Fair enough. Personally I think it's hard to study because of how ubiquitous it is. There isn't really a control group that is representative of the general population. I do think it's physiologically addictive (just like everything else that is enjoyable or gives a dopamine reward), which could mean some will spend more time with it than they should. But for the rest, it's hard to say if behaviours and attitudes come from the porn or if they are in porn because that's just how some people approach sex.
And from a personal perspective, there's been plenty of times while watching porn that I've thought, "ok, this might be hot but holy fuck that guy is a piece of shit". Which I think indicates that there is some bad porn out there but also indicates I'm not some brainless drone that thinks, "I'm seeing this in a video, therefore it is good".
You could just say you don't know what "addictive" means
There's chemical addiction and there psychological addiction. Both involve a strong desire to do something that doesn't benefit or even hurts you. Gambling addiction is a psychological addiction.
I'd even go so far as to say that most chemical addictions start as psychological addictions because withdrawal won't be that bad after the first time, but you want more because it feels good because most affect the dopamine pathway, some acting as dopamine itself (like cocaine), some increasing your sensitivity to it (don't know of any that do this but theoretically it would result in the same), and some encouraging your body to release it more readily (like meth).
Though porn and sex addiction (and heroin) might work on a different pathway, as I'm not sure if the orgasm hormone is dopamine or something else, though I do think that dopamine is involved in getting people engaged with sex before the orgasm. From some quick reading, it sounds like dopamine is involved.
Tldr: no, u
Buddy I'm not reading your half-understood bullshit when you think anything that gives you dopamine is addictive.
Watch out for those pleasant sunny days. They're addictive. Laugher of children? Addictive.
Maybe actually meet a few addicts and learn a bit about actual addictions.
Then what do you think drives gambling addiction?
Lots of things. The problem with pseudo-scientific takes, in general, is that they steal from science but don't actually contribute anything to it. You're essentially making the same argument as, "it snowed in winter so climate change isn't real."
Addiction is a well-defined term and every addiction has more than one root cause.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-gets-addicted-to-gambling/
Chose a layman site to help you get it more easily
And what do you think that reward circuitry is based on?
And if it's the people rather than the things that cause addiction, shouldn't nothing be called addictive then? Or everything addictive having a footnote of "to certain people". Which should be obvious because there's different levels of addiction from not at all to sucks dick in an alley to get a fix.
Now you're starting to begin to understand why psychologists are professionals and you are not.
Right or wrong, you argue like an asshole. Since you tried to dodge that question where you might have to admit I'm not wrong and this whole thing was more of a miscommunication (you assumed when I said "addictive" I meant everyone would be affected by that addiction or maybe you do think addiction isn't related to dopamine?), then a disagreement, the reward circuitry is based on dopamine.
You can think I'm an asshole all you'd like, but at least you learned more about addiction today
Can't say I got anything out of this conversation, other than seeing that I might need to add disclaimers to my original statement. Otherwise just passing some time.
Ubiquitous things are the easiest to study. Unless you think there's a lack of a control group?
Doing a napkin-level study on this comment thread I think we can conclude that believing that viewing porn is somehow dangerous is a very unpopular opinion that isn't widely backed by evidence. Therefore, it is healthier to rub those anti-porn thoughts out and/or get some hard science pounded into you.
Yeah, I did mean the lack of a representative control group. And I never said I was anti-porn, I just don't outright reject the idea that there might be harmful aspects to it but don't think we'll be able to determine that one way or another due to the lack of representative controls. The people who think masturbating makes Jesus cry or some dumb shit like that aren't representative.
Pretty sure some universities have tried to do studies but, just like you said, they couldn't find enough people for the "does not watch porn" control group.
Burden of proof is on the one making the claims.
Just because you thought something from a porn video was a good idea doesn't mean everyone else does.
LMAO seriously. Hope this guy doesn't watch any crime TV shows either holy fuck.
Lol how exactly would you word this health warning? How utterly stupid
"Warning: Any activity or substance that causes a rush of dopamine, serotonin, and/or oxytocin may lead to behavioral or psychological dependence on said substance or activity." ?
Thats actually reasonable. I think people are largely unaware of their own brain plasticity and how much any type of input affects our outlook and actions.
Sure, but putting it on porn and not other things that make people feel good is just pathologizing sexuality in order to shame people.
That's exactly why Texas passed the law.
Yes. That’s why I mentioned it in response to a comment that said they were being reasonable.
Yea that's fair. I feel like the issue lies in education tbh. Our schools don't teach us much about practical things like the relationship between external and internal forces. I'm not for these types of warnings, I just thought that was reasonable compared to what I was expecting lol
Education for southerners!? Are you insane? You must be out of your mind!
I haven't seen a teenage pizza delivery driver in ages! They also aren't going into marine biology to train octopuses!
You obviously have no idea what you're talking about 😁
You're absolutely right. It absolutely influences people and has a toxic effect on young men.