This month we are partnering with Alec Sproten from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany) to study the effects of abstaining from masturbation and porn for a period of time.

It has been a long while since the birth of NoFap® and the rise in awareness of the harmful effects of masturbation/porn abuse. People have been talking a lot about improvements in their relationships, their well-being and their lives in general after joining the platform. Yet, people also have been talking a lot about scientific evidence on how masturbation/porn abstinence impacts their lives. Truth is, this evidence is still scarce. And we need to change that! Stephen Hawking said science is as well a discipline of romance and passion: why not take him literally?

With an ever growing community of members of NoFap, a survey on user preferences, masturbation and porn abuse is overdue. This is why we want to make an attempt to plug the holes in masturbation research with a well-assembled survey. After all, wouldn’t it be great to substantiate the potential benefits of masturbation and porn abstinence with some solid scientific facts?

This is why NoFap® agreed to facilitate a user survey in the community, designed by Alec Sproten, a social scientist from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). The goal of the survey is threefold. First, it will help the community to know its membership a little better. Second, backed by scientific evidence that “rebooting” affects the reward system in the brain, the survey will help find out how this influences preferences for uncertainty and for time: It will provide answers to the questions if masturbation and porn abstinence have an effect on the ability to delay rewards or on the ability to rationally assess risks. And third, questions on NoFap® user experiences will help improve the quality of services offered to the community.

You, the members, are a scientific gold mine, and this survey was designed to tap into that, in the best way that we can. Please take it seriously, give it some of your precious time, and let’s make some science happen here!

The survey is divided into two parts. The first part is released right now. It will ask questions about you, your history, your preferences, your attitudes toward masturbation and pornography, and the experiences you’ve had along the way. This section will take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

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The survey is now closed.

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The second part will be released in one month. It will ask the same questions (minus a few questions if you participated in the current survey) in order to assess how your preferences change over time. You are not required to take part in both parts of the survey, however the more people participate in both parts, the greater the value of this study.

This survey is COMPLETELY anonymous. Public data as well as a summary of the results will be released after both survey periods ended.

And if you need any further motivation, here is a quote from Isaac Asimov: “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny…’”

See the forum discussion thread for further information.