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[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

The vast majority of people that use pornography and play video games will not come close to destroying their lives with them. It sounds like you can't do either of these things in moderation, but the crux of your problems appears to be your desire for escapism and a lack of ability to moderate yourself when it comes to activities that reward your dopamine circuit rather than either of those things being inherently dangerous. This is pretty common in people with ADHD, who are deficient in dopamine in certain regions of the brain, and something I've experienced myself, although maybe not to the same extent.

You can become addicted to anything, even to recovery and addiction groups which I have seen take over peoples lives. Be careful that you don't just replace one escapist activity with another, not that I want to discourage you from getting help controlling your unhealthy pornography use. Yes you should stop doing these things since they are causing problems for you, but I worry if you make porn and games the demons and focus only on that, you will still be consumed with spending all your attention around and effort around them, even it is on not doing them, or find some other escape.

In addition to your efforts to abstain from these activiteis, I think you should also focus on finding some healthier activities that can give you some of that stimulation you crave. Some people like sports or exercise, I even found programming computers gives me a similar stimulation to gaming, while making my life better rather than causing problems. Maybe you can write a book, you seem like a capable writer. You definitely can't replace those activities with nothing or just recovery groups, you need something stimulating and productive. Maybe a psychiatrist and medications could even help you too. Meditation I have heard can be very helpful as well. Even psychedelics can also be helpful for people with addiction, the AA guy famously used LSD during his recovery, although I'd maybe try some of those less risky interventions first

Anyways, it sucks to hear that that you are struggling so hard with these things, thats my two cents based on my own experiences, but everyone is different. I hope you are able to find way to get your life on track to a place where you are more satisfied with it

[–]jet199 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I'm going to go along with this somewhat.

You speak about your dad, OP, but where was your mother in all this?

What was you home like? Did your parents engage with you? Were they emotionally present? Were you bullied at school?

Most kids who have computer addictions are neglected somewhat. Parents use the screen as a babysitter. Most good parents will tell their kids to come off the computer because they don't want them on the computer too long and not just because their minutes will run out. They monitor it.

While you are right to blame porn and games for their purposely addictive nature you need to realise there was something long before that which set you up with a weakness for some kind of addiction. And part of you is still running away from sorting that out which is why you are still constantly chasing distractions.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

While you are right to blame porn and games for their purposely addictive nature you need to realise there was something long before that which set you up with a weakness for some kind of addiction. And part of you is still running away from sorting that out which is why you are still constantly chasing distractions.

Well put, those things are purposely made to be addictive, but the root of OP's problems are deeper than that, and need to be addressed or he will continue to have problems