| Lavamelon said: Atheism peaked in the 1970s? P*rn magazines were popular at that time. It wasn't the same online viewing we have today, but p*rn existed in another form. So yes, my argument still stands. P*rn has impacted religious belief, be it online or physical magazines. No doubt about it. And lets not forget that the 1970's had other forms of hedonism, such as casual s*x. Birth control pills were invented in the 1960s, so people in the 70s had more casual s*x and hedonistic lifestyles compared to people in earlier decades. Not saying p*rn was the only thing that made atheism grow, but it is one of the main highlights. Hedonism sounds nice in theory, "pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain", but in practice it can make people selfish and disconnected from each other because people only care about short-term pleasures. This explains why marriage rates are falling, because people only care about themselves (individualism) and not their family as a whole (collectivism), among other things. |
Lol kids have far more access to porn nowadays than porn magazines in the 70s.
The rise of social media is the better correlation to falling marriage rates, selfishness, becoming disconnected from each other. That has little to do with hedonism. That 'peaked' in the 60s ;) It does have everything to do with Capitalism preying on dopamine addiction.
Narrowing the definition of hedonism to addictive destructive practices, like in the articles you link, is disingenuous.
People seek pleasure in many things, including work, building a legacy, doing charity work, practicing religion.
"and the avoidance of pain" is part of the definition of hedonism. The avoidance of negative effects of overindulgence and addiction are part of that.
The opposite of hedonism is depression.
But sure destructive pleasure seeking and dopamine addiction are real problems. Yet porn and hedonism aren't to blame for that.
