NoFap – Can I Look At Pictures?
A lot of guys are unsure of what's allowed during a NoFap journey.
In this article I'm going to give you examples of what's ok and not.
Not only that, you are also going to learn how to distinguish, for yourself, between what's ok and whats not.
This is going to be very valuable for you when trying to navigating between all the borderline forbidden territories in the future so I recommend you bookmark this page.
Let's start with pictures…
What about non video erotic content, like pictures.
Is looking at pictures ok during NoFap?
Intentionally searching for pictures that turn you on is not allowed during NoFap. The core idea of NoFap is to unhook from a bad PMO habit, and every time you intentionally search for artificial arousing stuff, you are feeding your addiction.
The keyword there is “intentionally”.
Before I go into more detail what I mean by that, here follows a few examples of what you should avoid during your NoFap journey.
Examples of what you should avoid…
Avoid all of these as much as you can.
Intentionally seeking, clicking and following…
- Hard core adult videos.
- Soft core adult videos.
- Booty shaking videos.
- Instagram fitess girls or models.
- Erotic stories.
- ASMR sounds that turn you on.
- Erotic podcasts that might arouse you.
- Surfing on pages like 9gag (or something similar)
- Certain reddit sections where people frequently post erotic stuff.
The basic rule is: if you intentionally seek out artificial stuff that turns you on, then that is bad for your reboot. No matter if it's real porn, videos, pictures, adult related stories, ASMR, booty shaking videos, music videos with hot chicks, Instagram models or whatever porn substitutes you may find.
What does “artificial” mean?
By artificial I mean, anything that has the potential to turn you on, in a sexual way, that is not a real flesh and blood human being.
- Pixels on a screen = no!
- Real life people = yes!
This is important to know as on of the key points of a reboot is to rewire you sexuality away from pixels on a screen and TOWARDS real life people.
After all; our sexuality is meant for real life people and fapping to online adult content hijacks our sexuality in a way that can make it difficult to function optimally in real social settings.
The core of your habit / addiction is…
It's the online behavior that is the big problem.
It's the dopamine driven seeking and the constant clicking to the next and new best thing that is the core of your addiction…
…no matter if it's pictures or videos!
If you then also pair it with masturbation then you are really conditioning to need that constant clicking, searching and following in order to maintain your arousal and a solid erection.
This can lead to porn induced erectile dysfunction because, well, you can't click, seek and search when you're with a real life partner.
Examples of what is no big deal during your reboot…
Here follows a few scenarios that are not that big of a problem during your reboot and not something you should worry about. Just as long as you are not intentionally seeking it out!!!
- You happen to see a love scene in a movie.
- Your friend, stupidly, show you a porn clip on his phone.
- You happen to get slapped in the face with a porn video when clicking on a link that you thought went somewhere else.
- You happen to see a billboard on the town – showing a girl with a super hot booty.
- You accidentally see a picture of a couple having sex when doing some online research for some project you are doing (that is not related to sex).
- You unintentionally happen to read some explicit adult related text when reading about something else online.
- You happen to hear some ASMR erotic sounds, without knowing it would be that.
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Can you see the difference between intentionally and unintentionally here?
If you compare the above list of examples with the first list on this page, you should be able to see the difference.
It's very important that you do, because one is the core driver of your addiction and the other is not.
- Intentionally watching / seeking / following = BAD!
- Happen to see something by mistake = No big deal and nothing to worry about!
Unintentionally happening to see something…
Even if you by accident happen to come across a hardcore porn clip online, and you clearly see some explicit action there for a few seconds, it's no big deal just as long as you turn it off right way and move on.
If you, on the other hand, linger and start to stare and draw lust from it, it becomes a problem.
Just turn it off right away and move on!
Don't fool yourself with THIS…
Now some of may start to think something in the lines of…
“Alright, I get it. So if unintentionally seeing something is ok, then I could just go to that specific reddit subsection where I “unintentionally” might get to enjoy getting a glimpse of something.”
No no no no no!!!
If you think like that then you are INTENTIONALLY going there just so that you might get to enjoy some eye candy. Then it's not by accident and it's still part of your addiction.
What about if I only do semen retention for the sake of retaining my seed?
If you on the other hand never had any problematic PMO habits in your life and you are only doing semen retention for the potential semen retention benefits, well then it's a different matter altogether.
Then looking at a few pictures here would obviously not be a problem.
But again, most guys who do NoFap are doing so because they want to reboot their brain from a problematic PMO behavior…
…and that's also this post, giving answers to what is okay and not during your PMO reboot / NoFap journey.
Is looking at pictures ok on NoFap
Conclusion and final words
So to sum everything up…
- If you are trying to do a PMO reboot, do not intentionally search, look at or follow artificial arousing stuff.
- If you accidentally happen to see something, it's no big deal (just as long as you turn it off right away and move on).
- If you are doing semen retention and that's the only thing you care about – well then – who cares? (but then it's not really NoFap you are doing. You're just doing semen retention).
When in doubt, just think:
- Pixels on a screen = no!
- Real life people = yes!
I hope that gave you some clarity.
Thanks for reading and I wish you all the best on your NoFap journey.
-Scandinavian Bob-
P.S. If you have problems quitting porn or if you keep relapsing all the time, then here are two options for you…
- You could reach out to me personally for 1 on 1 coaching session ==> Do so here!
- Check out the best online course for overcoming porn addiction ==> Do so here!
Other posts you may find interesting…
Discover a >>good online course<< for quitting porn right now…
