this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2024
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Addicted means it's a bad thing. Did people used to be addicted to A-Zs, reading, talking to friends, reading news, etc?
My phone just provides an easy way to do the things I already want to do.
"Addicted" means: exhibiting a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity.
If something is chronically prohibiting you from living a normal healthy life, that would be considered an addiction. If you have set times or you have the ability to responsibly engage with something without it interfering with other tasks or obligations, it likely is not an addiction. If you continue to do something which is more often detrimental to your well being yet you feel you're getting a rush by doing it, that is likely an addiction.
No. No one is asking if talking to friends or reading the news is an addiction. However, if you find that you are engaging in these activities as a way to absolve or distract yourself from other obligations, you may fit the definition of being addicted.
This really raises the moral question of what are people supposed to do with their time. If you have the means to care for yourself, who's to judge you for what you do with your time? If you choose to not have a family or not participate in your community or give back to the world in any way, is an addiction really a problem? If you're choosing to not have a healthy productive life, is an addiction to drugs or gambling or sex or social media detrimental to anything?
I've never met anyone with an apparent addiction - and I've met quite a few in my day - that were completely happy with the life they were leading. Probably because real addiction entails a loss of control that would be detrimental to your life and self-esteem. Even if you have no one around you, if you want to do anything else with your day besides drink and you constantly fail, it's not a good thing for your mental health. You'd continuously find yourself in degrading situations.
Coming to terms with "choice" in the context of addiction is a difficult thing to me. I'm really not sure where I stand on it. It's definitely not the same as making decisions when completely sober, you're not completely helpless or without personal responsibility either.
And then some people seem to be able to consume copious amounts of drugs or alcohol at some time in their life and then just walk away from it without issues. Perhaps it's genetics, or a personality thing, who knows.
I can imagine people being so distraught and apathetic that their addiction feels like the only thing that gives them purpose in life. I think that's why a lot of people find addiction - to make up for what they don't have. Or, in the context of younger people with phones, they just don't know a world without it.
If you live alone, have no kids or pets, and all you do after work is play video games or doom scroll or watch porn; as long as your bills are being paid, is this an "addiction"? Are these the kinds of people you've met?
I think we're only just beginning to see the ramifications of phone / social media addiction and our disinterest or fear in engaging with others in real life. Our devices are giving us all this unnatural dopamine drip we otherwise can't find in the wild. Is this an addiction and if so, is their reliance on screens going to become a problem as these young people face adulthood? Or is adulthood going to change for them? Not to mention how my 70+ year old mother is 100% addicted to the dings from her phone.
You're probably correct, although I also think once an addictive pattern is established there's often a kind of feedback loop where the pattern interferes with your ability and options to have a better life.
I guess there's a few ways to answer that question. In an extremely literal sense, no one is ever going to be diagnosed with anything if their behavior doesn't affect themselves or others around them negatively. But if we define addiction as a certain behavioral pattern, this person would still be addicted to their phone given that this behavioral pattern is present. Do they "play video games or doom scroll or watch porn" every day simply because they're bored, or because they can't help themselves? And if an opportunity arose and this person's life had a chance to turn significantly better somehow, would this behavior stand in their way?
I'm not saying I know the answer, by the way, and I'm certainly not judging anyone in this kind of situation.
What you're describing doesn't sound like an addiction, no, but does that mean no one is or could be addicted to their phone?