Is immodest Internet a true pleasure?

What do I call true pleasure? True pleasure is an activity that over time I agree I enjoyed, that it benefited me, that it built it me up. That in the long term its net result was pleasant; not a painful loss.

If you ask yourself honestly and with no excuses, you will agree that it is not a true pleasure.

It is not doing anything good for you, you have not benefited from it, and you will
never benefit from it. In truth is it does not really make you feel good.


The momentary albeit strong, pleasure you get from Immodest Internet is only an incentive; to tempt you, to make you a customer , and to keep you hooked.

(The feel good you get from it is comparable to smoking a cigarette . Of course you get a momentary, powerful high but in the long run, it is devastating!).

It is like a bait to a fish. If the fish bites, it will not continue to live the same life no
matter how "good" the worm was.


Taking everything into consideration the losses are great. Both social and individual,
breaks in relationships, disappointments, lost life opportunities .... I think it’s easy to
see that a modest person has much more true, lasting pleasure than a person that
gazes at immodest images.

If pleasure is defined as something constructive, beneficial, refreshing, enjoyable then why does one always regret gazing at immodest images? Immodest Internet is not really a pleasure it is a trap of destruction.

The “pleasure” is but a ticket to an ever increasing path of spiritual poison, shamelessness, humiliation, loss and pain.

Forbidden pleasures offer a reward but it is fake reward. It leads to (heaven forbid)
destruction, illness, failure.

The solution? Daily Torah study! I recommend to anyone to try it even if they think it will
not help them. The evil inclination has the power to convince us that we cant even though
we really can.

I appreciate the post, whatever works for you. I have found, however, that using logic and rationalization and idealizing porn did not help whatsoever. I wasn't watching porn for logical reasons in the first place so me telling myself that it's not a true pleasure never helped. I would be watching porn and masturbating to it, fully conscious that I didn't want to be doing this and that I didn't like the effects of it but not being able to stop. So it wasn't a logical war that can be won by thinking. Also if you are in a state where daily learning helps you then kol hakavod, but I know of many people where that solution would not apply to them.

Mr anonymous,

Has your pearls of wisdom helped you?
Did you come up with this after you viewed porn, before, or have you never seen anything immodest on the internet, heaven forbid?

By the way, I truly enjoy viewin' this sort of stuff.....year after year, day after day. Thank God, I have stopped, but not because it's not pleasurable.

B'hatzlachah

Reading your anonymous post was indeed a True Pleasure!
But as discussed all over the forums, learning Torah is the only way to prevent from becoming addicted in the first place, אין היצר של עריות מצוי אלא בלב הפנוי מן החכמה, once you are an addict (like most of us here) then it's a totally different situation, if it would be as simple as you say, we wouldn't need GYE, because we all heard during the years drushes and mussar shmuessen, but nothing changed!
Your first point regarding the hashkafa towards immodest sites, i must agree with shlomo24. We are all wise enough to understand that these scenes don't benefit us whatsoever, and her we are, falling in the trap again and again. For example, loshon hora or any other aveira doesn't do good for you either, however we keep on doing them.
Bottom line: It's a sickness not a logical problem!
Thanks anyway, b'hatzlacha!

heiligeryid wrote:

This is discussed all over the forums? I know that I was born an addict and I know many people who are great talmidei chachomim, who have been learning their whole lives, who are addicts. There are many people in SA who have been masturbating since they were 3 or 4 years old, I guess there was no hope for them. I personally have been having erotic thoughts since I was 4 or 5. I didn't even know the word sex existed and I was fantasizing about women.

I was misunderstood. Your'e right that if the addiction started at 3-4 years old, then it's another kind of sickness and doesn't have to do with learning at all. I meant to say, a person who starts out with just looking on p**n here and there when he's already older, that eventually turns into an addiction, this could be prevented through limud hatorah.
My personal addiction started when i was exposed to p**n magazines (which were brought into our home by a sibling who was OTD) at the age of 13, so i very well understand what you were talking about.

I hear, but I guess hypothetical things just don't sit with me much. Sorry

heiligeryid wrote:


It could be prevented thru playing the saxophone as well.

Or playing lots and lots of sports. Wait, I did that and it didn't stop me. Should've tried saxophone!

Workingguy wrote:
I don't know how to make voting threads, but why not?
Let's make a survey

Saxaphoning
Please Choose one

1- Gained me sobriety = A Major
2- I'm trying = C Minor
3- Tried and failed = F flat
4- Dunno how to play so good
5- Have one on back of my truck as segula
6- Dunno what it is
7- I hate polls
8- I love polls
9- All of the above

cordnoy wrote:

I think that many people here could tell you that playing with the sax o phone is a very bad idea.

markz wrote:


I'm going with #5