How to Stop Watching Porn

Watching porn is a fine and healthy activity when done appropriately and in moderation. However, porn can be a problem when it affects other aspects of your life. Fortunately, there are ways to quit porn. You can install a porn blocker, join a 12-step group, implement distractions, and prioritize your values. How you view yourself may be the strongest tool you have to quit for good.

10 Tips for How to Quit Porn

Luckily, there are many techniques to stop looking at porn. Whether you believe you have an addiction or have identified the negative effects of porn, there are ways to quit. Prioritizing values, reframing self-talk, accepting the difficulty of change, addressing underlying stressors, and having a backup plan when obstacles arise can help you maintain a porn-free lifestyle.

Here are 10 tips for limiting or quitting porn use:

1. Plan Ahead

Like most things, failing to plan is planning to fail when quitting porn. Planning allows you to play the part of your “ideal self,” even when faced with the urge to watch. Yes, the urge will come, but an urge is not a relapse. We are hardwired to crave comfort, so urges are your body’s way of steering you back into your safe zone.

Study yourself and identify your triggers. Just because you decided to quit porn does not mean that triggers, urges, and self-doubt won’t come up. This is why having a backup plan is essential.

2. Try Meditation

Meditation teaches you to disengage from your thoughts and emotions. It is a tool that is accessible to everyone and can be very beneficial during the early stages of quitting porn when emotions tend to fluctuate the most. Redirecting intrusive thoughts to focus on the breath helps people see that thoughts don’t need to be acted on (and will usually leave quicker when in a more relaxed state).

3. Engage in Physical Activity

Physical activity can positively impact the brain’s reward center, promoting overall well-being. Exercise is known to improve the physical and mental health of individuals by controlling the reward impulse, which may help explain its ability to mitigate internet addiction.^4,5

4. Join a 12-Step Group

Admitting a pornography addiction often comes with judgment from others. 12-step groups can provide a safe forum for discussion in a judgment-free zone that many individuals find essential in overcoming addiction.⁶ Accountability and support are added benefits that help a person to feel more supported and less alone while taking the journey toward a porn-free lifestyle. An online therapist directory can help you find a therapist specializing in porn addiction for more individualized professional help.

5. Change your Surroundings

Do not underestimate the role your environment plays in being triggered. Any activity done long enough becomes habitual and can be maintained on autopilot, requiring little to no thinking. The same would hold for pornography. What might have begun as a coping skill may now be preserved out of habit. How can you change your environment so you can change the outcome?

6. Install a Porn Blocker

Installing a porn blocker on your digital devices can provide a bit of a barrier (or at least a few extra steps) during intense urges. The best thing about a porn blocker is its potential to buy more time to reconsider cravings, helping you lean into values instead. This can facilitate taking committed action and help you achieve your goals of watching less and eventually quitting porn.⁶

7. Try ACT Therapy

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that emphasizes acceptance of thoughts and urges while simultaneously committing to actions more consistent with your values.⁷ People learn to have a better relationship with inner thoughts, emotions, and burgers by learning to stop avoiding or denying them. This can create space to move forward in their lives. ACT is one of the few research-supported treatments for problematic pornography viewing and has been found to reduce porn use by over 90% after 12 sessions.⁸

8. Accept Yourself

What you resist persists and can magnify any struggles you face. Accepting who you are in the present and having a clear-cut picture of who you want to be leads to long-lasting changes. Creating a new self-identity (and writing this down to revisit often) is essential for shortening this gap and making better choices during those difficult moments.

9. Have a Plan B & Plan C

Willpower alone is not an effective relapse prevention strategy. Replacements are essential for long-term success in creating a porn-free life. New hobbies, meetup groups, and pre-planned back-up strategies are meaningful components of the journey to recovery. Volunteering is also a great strategy to occupy your time in a rewarding and productive way.

10. Prioritize Your Values

Values play an important role in maintaining a new lifestyle long-term because living a porn-free lifestyle takes more than just setting a goal to stop pornography. Knowing what you want is key instead of focusing on what you want to avoid. Once you choose a porn-free lifestyle, values determine how you show up in this new role.

Quitting porn for good is about choosing the longer-term image of who you want to be rather than giving into the automatic, habitual, and impulsive short-term cravings. It means slowing down to feel your emotions rather than running away. The key is to have back-up plans in place that are consistent with what’s important and meaningful to you. Reframe quitting as a chance to optimize personal growth and practice self-compassion as part of the journey.

Final Thoughts

The longing to live a porn-free life is the ultimate destination for many. Yes, quitting porn is hard, but you are not alone on this mission. Commit to change and have clarity on what your new porn-free life will look like. Remind yourself of where you are going daily. Accept the struggle and remember you have it in you to take the action necessary to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

For Further Reading

• Sex Addicts Anonymous
• RebootNation.org
• DailyStrength.org
• NoFap.com
• Does Porn Cause Erectile Dysfunction?