"A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that "regular porn users are more likely to report depression and poor physical health than nonusers are. ... The reason is that porn may start a cycle of isolation. ... Porn may become a substitute for healthy face-to-face interactions, social or sexual."
Depression and poor physical health may go into porn addiction or vice versa, but this paragraph is the only true aspect of the article. Porn addiction and video game addiction are not the same, which is precisely what this article posits. Amidst sweeping generalizations I heard a statement that simply made sense to me. I won't directly quote her but she said that she has met many guys who game and live fulfilling lives while she hasn't met many who have an obsessive porn addiction and live fulfilling lives. That statement spurred me to consider violence and video games and to also consider pornography. This post is a direct sequel to Violence and Video Games.
I think porn hits the "pleasure" centers in a particular way, as in it can really only have one impact. There's reason why porn is defined - or at least it was in Miller v. California - as material that is both obscene and completely devoid of literary, scientific, or artistic value. (And in the case that its status as porn is questionable, I think we can agree that an addiction to pornography regarding that would be in regards to that particular sexual aspect of the work/whatever.)
Video games impact the gamer in a different way than a simply passive interaction like the one between a viewer and the porn he is watching. It is interactive, which goes beyond simply stimulating the pleasure center like porn does. Video games can impact someone in many different ways, including emotionally. They are a multimedia art that acts like such; they can also help develop problem solving skills and strategy, even if you are playing a shooter. If you keep losing at Call of Duty you're going to learn your mistakes and correct them so you can be more successful. Video games can also provide stress relief, which, as far as I'm aware, porn cannot. Porn is not stress relief but seems to be more along the lines of escapism in a sense. You watch porn and "get away." For many people video games is not purely escapist. I find video games quite helpful in that regard.
Porn does not help you develop skills like reading (especially for younger gamers), problem solving, multitasking, and other things that video games can help with. Porn can't be educational. It also can't teach you about humans interact: porn is by nature pedantic and narrow in its portrayal of human interaction. It's at odds with education and careers - or as I see it - and that's another reason why porn is at odds with a fulfilling life.
I began gaming from an early age and I believe that many skills I took from video games were helpful. Video games have helped me hone my ability to problem solve, which I consider very important. As an engineer I'm to be an excellent problem solver, another reason I see video games as being conducive to a productive life. I can balance video games, other extracurricular activities, and school successfully, which is in part fostered by video games actually providing a link. I have 3 consoles in my dorm room, but I still manage to have a life and get all (well mostly) As; video games don't restrict me from a fulfilling life. As I see it, they help me get there.
Porn addiction can't get you to a fulfilling life.Porn does not help you develop skills like reading (especially for younger gamers), problem solving, multitasking, and other things that video games can help with. Porn can't be educational. It also can't teach you about humans interact: porn is by nature pedantic and narrow in its portrayal of human interaction. It's at odds with education and careers - or as I see it - and that's another reason why porn is at odds with a fulfilling life.
I began gaming from an early age and I believe that many skills I took from video games were helpful. Video games have helped me hone my ability to problem solve, which I consider very important. As an engineer I'm to be an excellent problem solver, another reason I see video games as being conducive to a productive life. I can balance video games, other extracurricular activities, and school successfully, which is in part fostered by video games actually providing a link. I have 3 consoles in my dorm room, but I still manage to have a life and get all (well mostly) As; video games don't restrict me from a fulfilling life. As I see it, they help me get there.
Porn addiction can't get you to a fulfilling life.
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