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I take a bit of a different approach to NoFap; I'm generally not worried about the addiction, but what the addiction does to me. Namely, that it makes my standards for in-person women artificially high, it lowers my confidence, and gives me greater social anxiety. I'm not looking to get out of depression; I'm looking to become more motivated and more social. Granted this isn't everyone's reason for doing NoFap but I thought I'd make this post for guys who are on the same journey as me.
In keeping with this, I believe that abstaining from MO is not a complete pursuit of these goals without also limiting P. Going a step further, I believe you fellow dudes should limit even looking at "hot chicks" online--even on Facebook.
Here's why.
1. To avoid temptation and edging.
This one is obvious: the snowball effect. P -> M -> O. We want to cut out the P.
But looking at a bikini-clad model on Reddit? Or even Models or GentlemanBoners? Heck, even Facebook? You won't fap from that, surely. But three clicks later you find yourself on a porn site and, whoosh, the past X days of your streak are gone. The simplest reason to avoid exposure to hot women online is because it leads to arousal and temptation. Simple as that.
There are scientific reasons for this. Arousal doesn't just lead to a slippery slope; it legitimately activates a mechanism designed to get you to impregnate women. No wonder you feel so powerless against it. Says YourBrainOnPorn:
Like that lab rat, you have a primitive mechanism in your brain urging you to fertilize the two-dimensional females, males (or whatever) on your screen.
As much as we think we're smart and we know the difference between women on a screen and women in real life, our nervous system doesn't. And this is a very powerful fact to remember, as well as the reason for #2...
2. Mitigating the Coolidge Effect. (It's all about dopamine, yo)
Looking at hot women and porn will raise up your dopamine (the "I want this" hormone). Good luck fighting that. We all know that dopamine eventually winds down the more you PMO, eventually leading you to seek out new videos constantly, even during the same PMO session. This is the Coolidge Effect (amping up desire with a new mate, after old mates become stale) taken on warp speed. Many of you already know this is a major problem with the modern convenience of easily-accessible porn.
Go to any website that shows even beautiful bikini-clad women and the Coolidge Effect begins to rear its ugly head.
But here's a key point I've recently discovered myself: when you edge, and even when you arouse yourself by looking at hot women online (without touching yourself), you still get a dopamine surge. Just without the rewarding opioids of actual O.
This is bad news for my purposes, and likely for yours if you want to NoFap to aid in getting rid of social anxiety.
Says YourBrainOnPorn:
Several studies show that social anxiety is associated with low dopamine or decreased sensitivity. Also see this study about the link between dopamine instability and social anxiety.
In essence, you can still be dopamine resistant or dopamine tolerant even if you're refraining from masturbating and orgasming. If you asks me, this defeats a lot of the purpose of NoFap in the first place.
Okay, moving along. What will refraining from even looking at women online--period--online help us do?
3. Rewire our brain circuitry to respond to actual, live women.
Back to dopamine.
Think of it as a powerful motivation hormone. Its powers are behind the slippery slope P -> M -> O when you edge, right? Yep. How hard is it to resist that urge once you've indulged your dopamine? Extremely. In fact, it's so powerful you have to fight it from motivating you. In other words, dopamine really motivates you.
But when you're all hopped up on dopamine because you PMO all the time to zillions of online women, you've overtaxed your dopamine, become tolerant of it, and poof--no motivation to actually approach and interact with REAL LIVE girls.
If you're dopamine sensitive, on the other hand, because you aren't scrolling through countless pages Scarlett Johannsen, Kate Upton, or whichever flavor of the month (let alone looking at porn), then guess what?
That same dopamine rush you get from edging? You'll get it from interacting with real, live women. (Just don't fap on them, please.)
This is exactly the kick in the butt some men need to give eye contact, to approach women they see out in public, to speak wittily and with a deep, resounding voice. That dopamine rush exists in your hard circuitry for a reason; it is designed to make you a better man, a man who plays the mating dance right, a man who knows every next move. If you ask me, a dopamine rush is how it's supposed to feel when interacting with attractive women. It should feel good, flow naturally, and give you motivation to take on the masculine role--approaching her, asking her out, etc.
The catch? You have to really, truly abstain from artificial sexual arousal. Even the "innocent" looking-at-girls-in-bikinis stuff. I may even argue sexual fantasy as you daydream. Not only is it a slippery slope, but many of us here are here because our dopamine is off and we need to fix it.
Hopefully you got some motivation to avoid sexiness in general online. I know I did in researching it.
tl;dr There's some evidence that artificial sexual arousal -> dopamine tolerance -> social anxiety. If you want "superpowers," it pays to be serious about NoFap.