Well, this is super discouraging. Apparently, only 2% of young men aged 18-29 never watch porn, gamble, or play video games. Without going into all the problems this is likely causing for the young men, their relationships (or lack their of), and civilization, let's do a quick review of why these things should be avoided in the first place.
1. Porn is the most obviously harmful (I think). Regular porn consumption rewires your brain so a real relationship is never satisfying, makes you a consumer of women rather than their protector, fills you with shame, and destroys your impulse control. That's truly just the start of the harm, but it impacts your brain like drugs do. It's debilitating and I've had people with experience in the field tell me porn addiction is harder to recover from than drug addiction. Don't do it, boys.
2. Video games. Obviously, playing Mario Cart with your friends on occasion can be good (even healthy) fun. But, habitual gaming is a waste of your life. You were created to accomplish great things, win the girl, persevere through challenges and accomplish the goal. Those desires should be affirmed. Doing it in an artificial world, however, gives you the sense of accomplishing something without actually accomplishing anything. The world needs your attention, tenacity, intelligence and skills. When you pour into an artificial world, we all lose, but you lose most of all. So take real risks, in a real world, and win real prizes.
3. Gambling is not primarily a fantasy problem, it's a wiring problem. Sports betting apps (the most common form of gambling now for young men) run on variable-ratio rewards (unpredictable wins mixed with losses), which behavioral scientists have shown is the single most addictive reinforcement pattern there is. That's why gambling disorder is the only behavioral addiction the DSM-5 places in the same category as drugs and alcohol. It hijacks the identical dopamine circuitry. The apps are built by people who know this, and they're aimed squarely at young men, because you're the easiest mark. The stakes are higher than financial ruin too. Problem gamblers have the highest suicide rate of any addiction disorder. You're not beating the house. You're betting against an algorythm designed to make sure it wins. You aren't going to win. So go get your dopamine doing something that will make the world, and you, better.
~Joseph Backholm (Facebook)
这真让人倍感沮丧。显然，在18到29岁的年轻男性中，只有2%的人从不看色情内容、不赌博也不玩电子游戏。暂且不谈这些行为给年轻男性自身、他们的人际关系（或缺乏关系的状态）以及整个文明社会带来的种种问题，让我们先简单回顾一下，为什么一开始就应该避免这些行为。
1. 色情内容显然危害最大（依我之见）。经常接触色情内容会重塑你的大脑，导致现实生活中的亲密关系无法让你感到满足；它让你把女性仅仅视为消费对象而非需要守护的伴侣，让你充满羞耻感，并摧毁你的冲动控制能力。这仅仅是危害的开端，它对大脑的影响堪比毒品。这种成瘾极具破坏力，曾有业内人士告诉我，戒除色情成瘾比戒毒还要难。小伙子们，千万别碰它。
2. 电子游戏。显然，偶尔和朋友玩玩《马里奥赛车》之类的游戏，不失为一种有益（甚至健康）的娱乐。但沉迷游戏就是虚度光阴。你生来是为了成就伟业、赢得心仪的女孩、在挑战中坚持不懈并达成目标的。这些渴望应当得到肯定。然而，在虚拟世界中做这些事，只会给你一种“有所成就”的错觉，而实际上你什么也没做成。这个世界需要你的关注、毅力、智慧和技能。当你把精力倾注于虚拟世界时，我们所有人都会受损，但损失最惨重的还是你自己。所以，去现实世界中承担真正的风险，赢取真正的回报吧。
3. 赌博的问题主要不在于幻想，而在于大脑的神经机制。体育博彩应用（目前年轻男性最常见的赌博形式）利用的是“变比率奖励”机制（即输赢交替、结果不可预测），行为科学家已证实，这是所有强化模式中最容易让人上瘾的一种。正因如此，在《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》第五版（DSM-5）中，赌博障碍是唯一被归类为与毒品和酒精成瘾同等性质的行为成瘾。它劫持了大脑中相同的多巴胺神经回路。开发这些应用的人深谙此道，且目标直指年轻男性，因为你们最容易成为猎物。赌博的代价远不止倾家荡产那么简单。在各类成瘾障碍中，问题赌徒的自杀率是最高的。你根本赢不了庄家。你是在与一套旨在确保自身获胜的算法博弈。你赢不了的。所以，去做些能让这个世界和你自己变得更好的事情，以此来获取多巴胺吧。
(Google translate)
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