App fights porn addiction with songs, speeches

Developer says it will also contain prayers

Indian neurologists have developed an app to address porn addiction that will play Hindu devotional songs or recite speeches by Nelson Mandela when a user tries to access adult videos.

The app was developed by Vijay Nath Mishra, a professor of neurology at Banaras Hindu University, in response to behavioural problems he was seeing in his patients.

It currently plays Hindu chants and prayers when users try to access adult or violent material, but Mishra said he aimed to widen its appeal as much as possible.

“Within a month it will contain songs and prayers suited to the Muslim community, so that it could be comfortably used by members of all religions,” he said.

Also to be added are inspirational speeches from figures including Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and the Bengali poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

“Addiction to pornography cannot be treated, but this is a humble attempt at changing one’s behaviour,” Mishra said.

The app has been named Har Har Mahadev, a Hindu chant exhorting the deity Shiva to destroy all evil. The website Pornhub says Indians make up its third largest user-base behind Americans and Britons. According to 2014 data, Indian users who access porn are more likely to be female than the global average.