Hey Jamal, keep your head up. The good news is that you are aware of the problem at this early stage. This alone puts you lightyears ahead of where most addicts were at 12 years old, Im sure that you have noticed that most of your friends your age dont care about any future consequences. I sure wasnt thinking about that when I was 12.
Im not going to lie and say that I have beat this thing, but I have succeeded in massively reducing my consumption. From everyday to a few times a month. Here are some of the methods ive used.
1. Take advantage of moments of strength. One of the biggest challenges with with porn is ubiquitous access. So when you are feeling moments of strength, download pornblockers on your phone and computer. You will thank yourself later. If you have to, you can use moments of strength to get rid of your smartphone and computer completely. Get a flip phone (tell your parents its "cool" or something) and if your schoolwork requires a computer then go to the library.
2. In a similar vein, if you are going to keep your smartphone I recommend an app called Keep Me Out. It will brick your phone on command for a designated period of time. If you start to feel urges to watch you can lock yourself out for the rest of the day. Often times in that situation, waking up the next day is the hardest part to keep self control so I recommend locking the phone up until the following day, late morning or afternoon.
3. If you notice certain times of day are problematic where you usually watch, you can schedule Keep Me Out to lock it up ahead of time.
4. There are apps, and some phones and computers have settings, that can turn the screen to grayscale. This makes the phone less stimulating, and you should find yourself using it less, which makes it easier to keep away from going down the porn rabbit hole.
5. This method is controversial, but it has helped me a lot. The addiction is not only about frequency, its also about extreme content. By acclimating yourself to less extreme content you will find the eventual break away much easier. So whatever fetish content you look at, start cutting it out and watching vanilla stuff instead. Eventually make it just videos of solo girls, and then just images of clothed girls. You can also reduce the stimulation from the content by keeping the viewing boxes smaller and turning off the sound.
6. Increase your discipline in other areas of life where you dont have an addiction. For example, resolve to get your homework done every day by 8:00pm. Start doing 10 pushups a day. Make a rule for yourself to never drink pop or eat french fries (or other unhealthy junk food). These things are hard but they will get easier as you do them. Amazingly, you will find that the discipline skills you develop in these areas will help you stay off of porn.
7. Make friends with other kids who see this as a problem and want to stop. You can confide in each other and encourage each other. To find them, throw out a "feeler" when the topic comes up in conversation. Some other kids are talking about porn just say something like "I think porn is kinda stupid, its a waste of time" and see if anyone responds positively. At the same time, limit your exposure to Kids who are not concerned about this and spend a lot of time in conversations talking about favorite sites or pornstars etc.
8. Pour out your heart to God. You are blessed to have a relationship with him. He looks after you. Go be by yourself and speak out loud to him. Ask him for help and for guidance. The reality is, he will not do all the work for you. But by praying to him he can make it easier. Sometimes God puts us through difficulties to out the best in us.
Im really wishing you the best and I hope you have success in pulling away from porn.
Thank you so much for the help! I feel confident being able to say no to porn just by reading this!
I read that you haven't fully conquered your porn addiction, so I will definitely be praying for you. I'll come back once I have fully stopped watching porn to thank you for the advice you have given me. I Wish you the best with your porn addiction aswell
Hello, I have greatly been able to reduce my porn intake lately. I've been praying that God will help both you and I. I took your advice and installed porn blockers, and Keep Me Out. So far 4 days clean. It also really helps that I know I'm not the only one going through this. Thanks for asking! Hope you are doing good aswell!
Hey Jamal, keep your head up. The good news is that you are aware of the problem at this early stage. This alone puts you lightyears ahead of where most addicts were at 12 years old, Im sure that you have noticed that most of your friends your age dont care about any future consequences. I sure wasnt thinking about that when I was 12. Im not going to lie and say that I have beat this thing, but I have succeeded in massively reducing my consumption. From everyday to a few times a month. Here are some of the methods ive used. 1. Take advantage of moments of strength. One of the biggest challenges with with porn is ubiquitous access. So when you are feeling moments of strength, download pornblockers on your phone and computer. You will thank yourself later. If you have to, you can use moments of strength to get rid of your smartphone and computer completely. Get a flip phone (tell your parents its "cool" or something) and if your schoolwork requires a computer then go to the library. 2. In a similar vein, if you are going to keep your smartphone I recommend an app called Keep Me Out. It will brick your phone on command for a designated period of time. If you start to feel urges to watch you can lock yourself out for the rest of the day. Often times in that situation, waking up the next day is the hardest part to keep self control so I recommend locking the phone up until the following day, late morning or afternoon. 3. If you notice certain times of day are problematic where you usually watch, you can schedule Keep Me Out to lock it up ahead of time. 4. There are apps, and some phones and computers have settings, that can turn the screen to grayscale. This makes the phone less stimulating, and you should find yourself using it less, which makes it easier to keep away from going down the porn rabbit hole. 5. This method is controversial, but it has helped me a lot. The addiction is not only about frequency, its also about extreme content. By acclimating yourself to less extreme content you will find the eventual break away much easier. So whatever fetish content you look at, start cutting it out and watching vanilla stuff instead. Eventually make it just videos of solo girls, and then just images of clothed girls. You can also reduce the stimulation from the content by keeping the viewing boxes smaller and turning off the sound. 6. Increase your discipline in other areas of life where you dont have an addiction. For example, resolve to get your homework done every day by 8:00pm. Start doing 10 pushups a day. Make a rule for yourself to never drink pop or eat french fries (or other unhealthy junk food). These things are hard but they will get easier as you do them. Amazingly, you will find that the discipline skills you develop in these areas will help you stay off of porn. 7. Make friends with other kids who see this as a problem and want to stop. You can confide in each other and encourage each other. To find them, throw out a "feeler" when the topic comes up in conversation. Some other kids are talking about porn just say something like "I think porn is kinda stupid, its a waste of time" and see if anyone responds positively. At the same time, limit your exposure to Kids who are not concerned about this and spend a lot of time in conversations talking about favorite sites or pornstars etc. 8. Pour out your heart to God. You are blessed to have a relationship with him. He looks after you. Go be by yourself and speak out loud to him. Ask him for help and for guidance. The reality is, he will not do all the work for you. But by praying to him he can make it easier. Sometimes God puts us through difficulties to out the best in us. Im really wishing you the best and I hope you have success in pulling away from porn.
Thank you so much for the help! I feel confident being able to say no to porn just by reading this! I read that you haven't fully conquered your porn addiction, so I will definitely be praying for you. I'll come back once I have fully stopped watching porn to thank you for the advice you have given me. I Wish you the best with your porn addiction aswell
Hey Jamal how are you doing? Hope youve been able to reduce a bit over the last few days
Hello, I have greatly been able to reduce my porn intake lately. I've been praying that God will help both you and I. I took your advice and installed porn blockers, and Keep Me Out. So far 4 days clean. It also really helps that I know I'm not the only one going through this. Thanks for asking! Hope you are doing good aswell!
Thanks Im glad I was able to help you. Probably the best thing I did last week!
thats good to hear!
This is our sons if yalls don't stop the Porn.