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How to stop watching porn

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Learn how to stop watching porn to improve your sex life and find better use of your internet browsing time.

How to stop watching porn

Almost everyone masturbates after a certain age and having multiple sexual partners won’t discourage it. However, masturbating too much while watching porn can lead to harmful sexual behavior and porn addiction.

Real-life issues can start occurring. A bad porn habit can make you believe pornography is the only way to get aroused and instead of helping with erectile dysfunction, it can cause it. Porn addiction can also create misconceptions about intimacy and negatively affect your sex life.

The effects of porn can range from physical problems to mental health issues. That’s why giving up porn might be an excellent idea. But make no mistake - a porn-free lifestyle or even reducing your regular consumption is challenging.

Like any other addiction, people struggle to control their urges. You will need to implement specific changes, techniques, and tools to overcome this bad habit and improve your mental and physical health.

The techniques to help you quit porn

Six techniques can help you reduce your porn intake to healthy consumption levels.

Use a porn-blocking app

A porn blocker is one of the most efficient ways to keep yourself off porn sites and on more constructive websites. Porn blockers are accountability software solutions. They can deny access to porn sites, apps, and other websites containing pornographic content.

It can include features like blacklists, safe searches, schedules, notifications, alerts, etc. A porn blocker is an essential tool on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices for anyone with a mild to severe pornography addiction.

Use meditation

Some people who watch porn have too much time on their hands but still can’t sit. Not everyone is addicted to pornographic content. Although it may seem hard, giving meditation a chance is worth the effort.

Meditation is an excellent way to learn to disengage from specific or all thoughts. It can help people control their emotions and redirect certain thoughts by focusing on breathing patterns. As a bonus, meditating leaves you in a relaxed state.

Engage in other physical activities

People watch porn to either satisfy their fantasies or masturbate and release dopamine. If you like pornographic content, it can do wonders for your brain’s reward center, but exercising and other physical activities can have the same effect.

Doing cardio workouts, lifting weights, or playing sports can also stimulate the reward impulse. You can start mitigating your addiction by substituting the urge to watch porn with physical activities.

Join a support group

Being addicted to porn videos often results in self-esteem issues. That’s why many people don’t want to seek addiction treatment. Some may not even confide in a close friend about the sexual satisfaction they get from porn watching.

Depending on your addiction, overcoming internet pornography dependency may require additional help. Joining a support group can help you better understand the negative consequences of this bad habit. Talking to an online community or meeting a group in person are great ways to curb your porn-watching behavior, identify stressors, and learn coping mechanisms.

Substitute a behavior that has a similar effect

Masturbating and watching porn can be healthy habits when used sparingly. They can relieve people of anxiety and tension. However, as mentioned, other behaviors and activities can accomplish the same thing.

Home workouts can be a good substitute if you don’t like going for runs or haven’t joined a gym. Naturally, more sexual intercourse is a better alternative to masturbating and watching porn. It’s a quick way to rewire your brain.

Ask yourself what you’d rather be doing

Some people who suffer from porn or sex addiction know they have bad habits. Accepting that excessive porn use is detrimental to your well-being can help you make lifestyle changes easier. For example, it’s easier to identify new pleasurable activities and engage in them.

Maybe you don’t even need professional help. Perhaps you can pursue a new sexual relationship, play video games, achieve work goals, etc. It’s essential to find other things to relieve stress and anxiety to avoid using porn as a default de-stressor and reward system.

Speechify - Use text to speech to enjoy the internet in new ways

You can browse the internet from your computer and still receive pleasure even if you don’t view porn. One of the best ways to use the internet while trying to live a porn-free lifestyle is to consume other content. Social media posts, interesting articles, and educational materials can keep you busy.

This is where Speechify can help you get the most out of your browsing experience. Speechify is a text to speech reader that can read text aloud, whether news articles, social media posts, emails, documents, etc.

With Speechify, you can enjoy thrilling and engaging storytelling in many voices and languages, thanks to the app’s AI-generated natural-sounding voices. You can make written content more interesting, learn new things, and slowly rid yourself of a bad habit.

Show your loved ones you can change and live a healthier lifestyle. Try Speechify for a new and exciting internet browsing and reading experience.

FAQ

What is the main reason someone may want to stop watching porn?

Porn addiction can lead to having less sex or less enjoyable sex in real-life. That and the potential of developing erectile dysfunction are the top reasons to stop watching porn.

How might porn affect my life?

Porn can be good when used in moderate amounts. It can stimulate people, decrease stress, relieve anxiety, etc. However, too much porn can rewire your brain and make it harder to become aroused in real-life scenarios.

What are some of the symptoms of porn addiction?

Relationship issues, risky bedroom behavior, ignoring responsibilities, overspending on porn sites, and less satisfying sex are symptoms of porn addiction.

What is the difference between porn and erotica?

Erotica refers to a more artistic expression of sexuality and sexual content, such as sexual stories. Pornographic content is less filtered and sensual, showing more aggression or focusing on power relationships between sexual partners.

Cliff Weitzman

Cliff Weitzman

Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.