WEBVTT

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Inspired by the last talker

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I'm going to 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 fastest moving

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most global experiments ever
unconsciously conducted.

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Nearly every young guy
with an Internet access

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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.

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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 the researchers
switch to porn

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the guys hadn't seen before.

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What happened?
Their erections and 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 ewe.

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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

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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 mate 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
and 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 a decade then

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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 such things as ADHD,
social anxiety, depression,

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concentration problems,
performance anxiety,

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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

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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 to natural rewards,
drugs such as

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cocaine or alcohol only hook
about 10% of users

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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 switch
called Delta-FosB.

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I know it is a 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 promotes 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, and 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 the porn user's life
is sort of boring,

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but porn is super exciting.

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Finally his willpower erodes
as his 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

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and now in internet addicts.

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I apologize for filling up the slide
with brain studies.

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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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At 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 call 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,

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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)

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As doctor Foresta says, "It starts
with lower reactions to porn 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 obvious 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 colleges,
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 call 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

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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 peak

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of dopamine production
and neuroplasticity.

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This is also when they are
the most vulnerable to addiction,

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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 ruts 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

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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 evolved 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)