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Potential confounds abound and no one is going to be able to conduct an RCT for this.
Anecdotally a lot of men report “porn brain” interfering with their ability to have normal relationships with women. Having decided to be done with porn about a year ago, I do notice a difference. But there’s a also a finding-religion confound in my case.
Self-reports from those who can't access a counterfactual surely would be strongly biased by explanations that are available and believed in our society. Some centuries ago, people would have reported humoural deficiencies as the cause of their problems.
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Would you mind writing more about this, when you have a chance? Religiosity among Motteposters is very interesting to me, as I've been wandering a bit down that path.
I would be interested, if the mods give a green light, in doing a standalone thread for motteizeans to write about religion in their lives.
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