the effects of watching porn and masturbation?

[Strider]

I won't comment on morality because that's a can of worms I don't want to open. That said, I think that pornography has harmful mental effects. I feel quite strongly on this matter.

The act of intercourse, sexual images, and so forth affect the brain in many ways. Various hormones are released, the nervous system is flooded with stimuli, and lots of other biological things are happening. Now, we have access to any and all kinds of porn with the click of a mouse and people are experiencing this flood of stimuli on a daily basis if not multiple times a day for some people. It's not that much different from other addictions. People get hooked on the rush of getting off on porn.

Here's the harm as I see it: desensitization. If you binge on porn daily, your real life sexual activities with your partner will suffer. I figure somebody will chime in and say, "I watch porn everyday and my real sex is great!" Good for you. You're an outlier. Anyway, over time the same old, vanilla porn that you watch will probably stop being as effective in helping you get off. This will inevitably result in seeking out more effective stimuli. A person seeks out porn that pushes the envelope and is more "hardcore" or "extreme". You see the slippery slope here? It's just like with drugs; to get the desired response, you have to take something stronger as you build up a tolerance.

I'm off of porn and have been for a long while now. I feel better physically, I perform better, and I feel better about myself. All that time spent fapping in front of the computer can be spent reading a book and channeling that energy into something productive.

EDIT: OP, I recommend the "Men and Porn" series of articles at Art of Manliness. Related articles are listed toward the bottom of the page. Regardless of your personal opinion on porn, you should give it a read.