For better or worse its been my experience that bishops and stake presidents have a widely varying attitude toward masturbation. Some will brush it off as a bad habit that needs to be stopped like swearing or watching R-rated movies, while other will treat it as a cardinal sins that requires one to avoid taking the sacrament for months.
The old joke is that a scientific survey showed that 95% of all men masturbated on some frequency and that the other 5% were liars. Everybody does it. That doesn't make it right. Its not an excuse. It's still a sin, and its not okay. But if every male in the Church went to see his bishop every time he masturbated bishops would be busy around the clock.
The guidance I received as a missionary from my mission president was that if it became habitual, it needed to be confessed.
