Addictions
25 Jan 2024
Addiction by Merriam Webster: a strong inclination to do, use, or indulge in something repeatedly.
As I looked up this page in search of the definition of this word, I came across this softer definition of the word as opposed to the other universally accepted meaning that’s used in a negative connotation.
If we look at drugs and how they affect our systems, they secrete hormones or do something in the brain so that we feel more satisfied, euphoric, happy, or numb, and people generally perform well and like to be in this state of mind.
A while ago, I was watching a TED Talk by Helen Fisher, she’s the go-to person for scientifically understanding love in this world. She said love is a form of addiction. During love, people experience more satisfaction because of serotonin, and physical proximity secretes oxytocin, the cuddle/love hormone. She also said that love is also quite responsible for a more risk-taking attitude in their day-to-day lives. I totally agree with her. It is not difficult to figure out and guess when someone’s in love. They laugh at crazy things and are always in a happy state of mind no matter what the situation is.
And when an instance like a breakup happens, our brains are devoid of these hormones, and the suffering that we experience is actually similar to experiencing actual physical pain. It’s like the equivalent of a broken leg.
Ethan Kross, ‘We found that powerfully inducing feelings of social rejection activate regions of the brain that are involved in physical pain sensation, which are rarely activated in neuroimaging studies of emotion.’
Source
That day, the definition of addiction changed for me.
Say you liked spending time with a friend, and you make plans to go out for movies and whatnot in the following days. A ritual for you now before you go to bed is speaking with them or something like going for a walk. Isn’t that a form of addiction?
We also indulge in our hobbies and interests, and surely at a point, it used to be everything for us. Like someone following ManU — their day would make or break depending on how the club would perform at a match. I’m sure I’ve been part of multiple Facebook quiz groups titled ‘Quiz Addicts.’
Looking at the other side of things — addiction also means “a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms (such as anxiety, irritability, tremors, or nausea) upon withdrawal or abstinence : the state of being addicted”.
One might not realize they are addicted to something, but they actually are. Some addictions these days can be doomscrolling through social media apps. I’ve been there, and that state of mindlessness is daunting.
A friend of mine, doing her higher studies in the US, also doubles up as a teaching assistant for Mathematics for students doing their bachelor’s. More than the subject and the complexity of the equations, the thing she has to deal with every day is how much the students are addicted to their phones. She mentioned an extreme case when a student experienced things as bad as withdrawal symptoms when he couldn’t access his phone for 15 minutes!
One more way of looking at an addiction is to understand how many dividends it pays you in the long run. It could be a friendship, a relationship, a sport, scrolling through Instagram, etc.
Once we know how addictions function and know the not-so-good habits we’re addicted to, dealing with them comes down to how you form or break a habit.
Doing the standard stuff: substitute time with other productive or trivial things like learning a musical instrument to deal with withdrawal symptoms, have a routine or ritual to do things, track your progress, share wins with others, find accountability partners, announce what you’ll be doing publicly, etc.
So, what are you addicted to?
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. — Richard H. Thaler, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics
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