W0 I have been thinking about this also recently. What I found interesting is that believing oneself to be addicted to pornography may be the actual cause of associated distress - not the use of pornography itself. So, the very idea that porn addiction exists could be a major cause of the experienced anxiety. (https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-42188-001) This could also explain an observation I have around the people on nofap: Many have a particularly long streak at the beginning, but the longer they stay on this page and the more they talk about being addicted, the more difficulty they seem to have to abstain for long. Starting to believe they are addicted may indeed make it more difficult to quit.
Checking in, on track. Last occasions when I’ve been on vacation, I have always adopted some kind of different mode where it is okay to be up late… but not this time! I’m prioritising sleep like never before
It's possible. Like I say, I find it hard to draw firm conclusions. It wouldn't surprise me if some people are prone to porn addiction but I do think many people on this site go beyond what can be reasonably inferred from the research about the harms of porn. My main goal is just to use porn in enough moderation that it doesn't interfere with my sex life. I'm not 20 anymore; if I were to use porn every day, or even every other day, I'd have less "left in the tank" for sex with my wife.
I was away on vacation for eight days and took a break from trying to achieve these goals. I'm starting again today! Will check back in tomorrow with today's results.
1/13 I need to find some way to reduce certain screen usage. Maybe I'll go back to some apps that used to work for me...
1/1, challenge completed. I went over the deadline by one minute so to avoid gray zone evaluations like this in the future, I add a rule just to be very clear: One second over deadline is a fail. I need to recover some sleep so having the same deadline for three days over the weekend feels like a nice thing. 0/3!
0/3, I crossed deadline by a few minutes. I was watching a movie that ended like four minutes after my deadline. Next time I am going to plan the time better. Anyhow, I closed my eyes around 21:20 which is not so bad for a Saturday night
Now I'm getting back on track, had a solid margin of three seconds. It was a nice feeling to be determined to close the lid before the deadline while I had a thing left to do that would only take a few minutes. I did it in the morning instead, as simple as that. 1/3
3/3, challenge completed. I'm now going to go for seven days with the following rules: No screens after 21:15 except for Fridays and Saturdays on which days the deadline is at 22:15 0/7!