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Inspired by the last talker

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I'm gonna have a little song 
about Internet porn.

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No, just kidding.

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The widespread use of Internet porn
is one of the fastes moving

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most global experiment ever 
unconsciously conducted.

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Nearly every young guy with Internet access 
becomes an eager test subject.

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Canadian researcher 
Simon Lajeunesse found

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that most boys 
seek pornography by age 10.

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Driven by a brain that is suddenly 
fascinated by sex.

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Now, users perceive Internet porn 
as far more compelling

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than porn of the past. 
Why is that?

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Unending novelty.

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In this Australian experiment,

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it's not mere nudity but novelty 
that gets arousals skyrocketing.

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Subjects watch 22 porn displays.
See that spike?

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That's where searchers switch to porn
the guys hadn't seen before.

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What happened?
The erections in their brains fired up.

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Why all the excitement?

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Mother nature likes to keep 
a male fertilizing willing females

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as long as any 
new ones are around.

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In that top line the ram,

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he needs more and more time 
to make with the same old you.

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But if you keep switching females
-- the bottom line -- well she's not the same.

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He can get the job done in 2 minutes flat 
and keep going until he's utterly exhausted.

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This is known 
as the Coolidge effect.

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Without the Coolidge effect 
there would be no Internet porn.

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This old mammalian program 
the Coolidge effect perceives

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each novel female on a guy's screen 
as a genetic opportunity.

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To keep a guy fertilizing 
the screen his brain releases

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the "go get it" neurochemical dopamine
for each novel made or image.

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Eventually the ram will tire

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but as long as 
the guy can keep clicking

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he can keep going 
as so will his dopamine.

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With internet porn a guy can see 
more hot babes in 10 minutes

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than his ancestors could see 
in several lifetimes.

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The problem is he has 
a hunter-gather brain.

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A heavy user brain rewires 
itself to this genetic bonanza

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so it carefully becomes associated
with this porn harem.

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Such behaviours that are associated 
with this are being alone,

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voyeurism, clicking, 
searching, multiple tabs

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fast-forwarding, constant novelty shock 
and surprise.

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As one young guy once asked:

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Are we the first generation 
to masturbate left handed?

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Now, real sex, in contrast,
is courtship, touching,

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being touched, smells, pheromones, 
emotional connection,

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interaction with a real person.

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Now, what happens when our guy
finally gets with a real mate.

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Well, researchers don't know 
much about the effects

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of Internet porn for several reasons.

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In 2009, when Lajeunesse 
tried to study porn's impact

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he couldn't find any college age males 
who weren't using it.

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So the first serious dilemma is
that studies have no control groups.

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Now, this creates a huge blind spot.

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Imagine if all guys
started smoking at age 10

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and there were no groups 
that didn't.

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We would think that lung cancer 
is normal for all guys.

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Undaunted by his lack of non-users 
Lajeunesse asked 20 male students:

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Is Internet porn affecting you 
or your attitude towards women?

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They answered: 
"No, I don't think so."

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But they've been using it for about decade 
then pretty much non-stop.

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This is like asking a fish 
what it thinks about water?

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Which bring us to a second problem.

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Researchers haven't asked porn users 
about the symptoms

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Zimbardo described in
"The Demise of Guys."

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Arousal addiction symptoms 
are easily mistaken

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for a such thing as ADHD, 
social anxiety, depression,

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concentration problems, performance anxiety, 
OCD and a host of others.

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Now, healthcare providers often assume 
that these conditions are primary

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perhaps the cause of addiction but 
never really the result of an addiction.

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As a consequence they often 
medicate these guys

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without really inquiring about
if they have an Internet addiction.

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Guys never realise 
that they could overcome these

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symptoms simply 
by changing their behaviour.

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Now, the third problem
is it's hard to believe that

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sexual activity can cause addiction 
because sex is healthy.

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But Internet porn is not sex.

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Internet porn is 
as different from real sex

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as todays video games 
are from checkers.

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Watching the screen 
full of naked body parts

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won't automatically protect one 
from arousal addiction.

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In this Dutch study
-- here's the title --

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they found that in fact of all activities 
on the Internet

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porn has the most potential 
to become addictive.

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Here's why.

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This ancient programme, 
the reward circuit,

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evolved to drive us towards 
natural rewards

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such as sex, 
bonding and food.

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As a consequence extreme versions
of natural rewards

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have a unique ability
to capture us.

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For example: high-calorie foods or hot novel babes
give us extra dopamine.

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Too much dopamine though can override 
our natural satiation mechanisms.

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For example: give rats unlimited access

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to junk food and almost all of them 
will binge to obesity.

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This is also why 4 out of 5 Americans
are overweight

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and about half of those are obese.

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That is addicted to food.

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Now, in contrast the natural rewards 
drugs such as

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cocaine or alcohol only hook about 10% of users
whether they are rats or humans.

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This binge mechanism for food or sex
was once an evolutionary advantage.

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In essence, it is getting it while 
the getting is good.

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Now, you can think of wolves packing 
away 20 pound of meat per kill

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or it's mating season 
and you're the alpha male.

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What if mating season never ends?

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All those hits of dopamine can tell 
your brain to do two things.

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First they say: "Man, you've hit 
the evolutionary jackpot."

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Second, they kick in a molecular 
switched called Delta-FosB.

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I know it is fancy word, 
but dopamine kicks in Delta-FosB

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and that starts to accumulate 
in the brain's reward circuit.

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Now, with excess chronic consumption 
of drugs or natural rewards,

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this build up a Delta-FosB 
starts to alter the brain

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and promote the cycle 
of binging and craving.

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If the binging continues 
the Delta-FosB builds up

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and it can lead to brain changes 
seen in all addicts.

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So the dominos 
are excess consumption

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excess dopamine,
Delta-FosB, brain changes.

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One of the first changes 
is a numbed pleasure response.

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It kicks in so everyday pleasures 
really don't satisfy a porn addict.

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At the same time other 
physical changes in the brain

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make the brain 
hyper-reactive to porn.

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Everything else in porn users life is sort of boring,
but porn is super exciting.

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Finally his willpower arose 
as it's frontal cortex changes.

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I can't emphasize this enough.

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All addictions share 
these same brain changes

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and the same molecular switch 
that kicks them in -- Delta-FosB.

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Now scientists have used 
brain scans to measure

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these changes in drug addicts.

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Up-here these scans show a reduced 
pleasure response in drug addicts.

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These and several other changes 
have also been seen in gambling addicts,

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food addicts, very recently in video game addicts
and now in internet addicts.

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I apologize for filling up the slide 
with brain studies just notice the dates

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but I want you to know
that they exist.

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So far all brain research points 
only in one direction.

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Constant novelty at the click 
can cause addiction.

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We know this because
when scientist examined

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former Internet addicts they found

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that these brain changes 
were reversing themselves.

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Unfortunately, none of these studies
isolate porn users,

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but they do include them.

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Here's the game changer.

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A last we have a group of guys 
who are no longer using Internet porn.

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That's right! Heavy users are voluntarily 
giving it up by the thousands.

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These guys are the missing control group 
in the great porn experiment.

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They're showing experts what changing
one single variable can do.

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I called it "The Resurrection of Guys" 
as opposed to "the Demise of Guys."

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Now, before I continue 
probably you wanna know

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why any porn loving guy 
in his right mind would give it up.

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Two words: 
erectile dysfunction.

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Internet porn is killing 
young men's sexual performance.

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Now, Zimbardo said young guys 
are flaming out with women,

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this survey by Italian neurologists confirms

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what we have witnessed 
over the last few years.

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Sexual enhancement drugs often stop working
for these guys, if they ever did,

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because the problem isn't 
below the belt where viagra works.

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Nor is their problem really psychological.

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It's due to physical changes 
in the brain.

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Those addiction related changes.

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Their numb brains are sending weaker 
and weaker signals to their bananas.

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(Laughter)
As doctor Foresta says:

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"It starts with lower reactions
to porn's sites.

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Then there is 
a general drop in libido,

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and in the end it becomes impossible 
to get an erection.

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There are 3 take-aways
from this.

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First, Foresta is describing 
a classic addiction process

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-- gradual desensitization.

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Second, Internet porn is qualitatively 
different from playboy.

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Widespread youthful ED 
has never been seen before.

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And finally ED is often the only symptom 
that gets these guys' attention.

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The question is what less symptoms
are they missing?

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Most don't figure 
that out until after they quit.

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Here's a guy in his late 20s.

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"I've been to psychologists and psychiatrists
for the last 8 years...

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have been diagnosed with depression, 
severe social anxiety,

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severe memory impairment 
and a few others.

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Have tried Fexer, Ritalin,
Xanax, Paxil

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dropped out at two different colleagues, 
been fired twice,

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used pot to calm 
my social anxiety.

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I've been approached
by quite a few women

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I guess due to my looks and status

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but they quickly flew away 
due to my incredible weirdness.

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I've been a hardcore porn addict
since age 14.

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For the last 2 years 
I've been experimenting

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and finally realised 
that porn was an issue.

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I stopped it completely 
2 months ago.

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It has been very difficult
but so far incredibly worth it.

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I've since quit 
my remaining medication.

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My anxiety is nonexistent.

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My memory and focus are sharper 
than they've ever been.

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I feel like a huge "chick magnet" 
and my ED is gone too.

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I seriously think I had a rebirth, 
a second chance at life."

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This is why pockets of guys are peering
all over the web -- body building sites,

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sports sites, pickup artists sites --
wherever men congregate.

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In essence, they are seeking 
a neurochemical rebirth.

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Here's a group on reddit.com 
who called themselves "Fapstronauts."

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Fapping is slang for solo sex, 


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but what they really mean
is giving up porn.

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They've added about 2,000 members 
since I captured this picture a month ago.

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This movement to unhook from porn 
is growing rapidly.

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In fact, groups are springing up all across
the web and in Europe too.

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But there is a bizarre fly 
in the ointment.

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Guys in the early 20s aren't regaining 
their erectile health as quickly as older guys.

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How can a 50-year-old get his mojo back 
quicker then a 20-something?

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The answer, even though older guys 
have been using porn a whole lot longer

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they didn't start 
on today's Internet porn.

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Now, we know 
this is a key variable because

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the older guys didn't start 
having sexual problems

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until after they got 
high-speed Internet. (Laughter)

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Now, today's young teens 
start on high-speed Internet

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when their brains are at their peek 
of dopamine production and neuroplasticity.

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This is also when they are the most vulnerable
to addiction, but there is another risk.

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By adulthood teens strengthen 
heavily used circuits

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and prune back unused ones.

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So, by age 22 or so a guy's sexual taste
can be like deep roots in his brain.

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This can cause panic if a guy has escalated
to extreme porn

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or porn that no longer matches 
his sexual orientation.

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Fortunately brains are plastic so his taste 
can revert once he quits porn.

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As a guy returns 
to normal sensitivity

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his brain looks around for the rewards
it evolve to see

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such as friendly interaction 
and of course real mates.

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Here's one more example of 
what we hear everyday:

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"I feel like the next Sir Isaac Newton 
or Leonardo da Vinci.

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Since I quit a month ago, 
I've literally:

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started a business, taken up piano, 
been studying French every day,

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been programming, drawing,
writing, started managing my finances

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and I have more awesome ideas 
than I know what to do with.

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My confidence is sky-high.

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I already feel like 
I can talk to any girl!

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I am the same guy who took 2,5 extra years
to graduate from college

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because of procrastination 
and depression."

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I'll conclude with a wish:

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I'd like to see Zimbardo's guys

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who are wiping out and their 
caregivers and the experts

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listen to the thousands of men 
who are teaching us

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about arousal addiction by escaping it.

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Thanks for listening.

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(Applause)