The Great Porn Experiment: Gary Wilson at TEDxGlasgow

In response to Philip Zimbardo's "The Demise of Guys?" TED talk, Gary Wilson asks whether our brains evolved to handle the hyperstimulation of today's Internet enticements. He also discusses the disturbing symptoms showing up in some heavy Internet users, the surprising reversal of those symptoms, and the science behind these 21st century phenomena.

More About Gary Wilson

Gary is host of www.yourbrainonporn.com. The site arose in response to a growing demand for solid scientific information by heavy Internet erotica users experiencing perplexing, unexpected effects: escalation to more extreme material, concentration difficulties, sexual performance problems, radical changes in sexual tastes, social anxiety, irritability, inability to stop, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

As a physiology teacher with a particular interest in the latest neuroscience discoveries, Gary was aware that their symptoms might be the result of addiction-related brain changes. Applying the website's concepts of brain plasticity, many former users have braved withdrawal, reversed their symptoms and restored normal sexual responsiveness.

The site has been linked to from hundreds of threads in forums from over thirty countries, with posts numbering in the thousands. Gary blogs for "Psychology Today" and "The Good Men Project" on the extreme plasticity of adolescent brains, the evolutionary context for today's flood of novel cyber "mates," and the neurochemical reasons why superstimulating Internet delivery has unexpected effects on the brain.

Many thanks to Pat Somers of Slow Moving Pictures for the skillful editing of this video.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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[rocknroll19842]

I am now on day 141 without porn..... Get on it guys, you won't be disappointed.

[alablama]

GAME CHANGER RIGHT HERE FOLKS

[SamJordHD]

You're an idiot haha. sorry, but you are. You know nothing about human biology and physiology. I dont know that much about it, but damn, you know literally nothing. You seem very distressed and comment a lot on this video. The fact is (and you can GOOGLE this), is that men and women are wired differently. FACT.

[Kinespojken]

Day 1 - Check!

[Anonymous110911]

no fap rest-of-life

[Andy Harglesis]

Girls watch porn as well.

[Andy Harglesis]

It's NOT just a "guy thing" to watch porn and masturbate, addiction or not.

[Andy Harglesis]

My ex-girlfriend used to watch porn a LOT.

She introduced me to it; she was 12.

[Andy Harglesis]

You didn't mention females because you're a misogynist.

Also, women don't have to "open up to a male" if they don't want to.

By your logic you put it as if women or girls do not have desires at all.

Higher testosterone alone doesn't dictate drive 100%, as females' bodies are more sensitive to testosterone, a smaller amount in proportion to that in our bodies compared to theirs (females) would, in turn, dictate different variations in sex drives in proportion to our different bodies.

[Egor Homakov]

shit, i'm going fapstrounaut

[crustymethaddict]

"endless novelty"

[SamJordHD]

I didn't mention girls and masturbation at all. Also we have much more testosterone and it's that, that makes males' drive much more greater than women's. We're here to fuck and spread our seed, women are there to open up to a male and allow them to spread their seed. So I can see this benefiting men more than women...although if a woman feels she has a problem with porn and masturbation too (rare thing in my opinion) then sure, they'll see benefits.