this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
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An addiction is defined by two things : first, it has negative effects on your life. Second, trying to stop it makes you miserable.
Food for example is not an addiction, it's a biological need. The need for socialisation is another one.
Video games can be an addiction. But I'd argue that they're usually not, they usually a coping mechanism. When they are, the problem is elsewhere, and the video games are helping you to survive through the problem.
Foods can obviously be an addiction for people that are massively overweight (not in all cases ie thyroid issues).
overeating and maybe over-obsession with socialising can be though
Everything can be. But for the largest majority of people, eating is normal, eventhough it can seem to have some aspects of an addiction.
And the most important part here is that even if you somehow get addicted to food, you cannot simply stop eating. Because you need to eat for your survival. It's a biological need.
That's the point of the example : showing that something you can't stop doing is not necessarily a bad thing. The details are very important when it comes to addiction.
And video games are unfortunately victim of propaganda when it comes to their dangers.
You can stop over eating though. Which is the common problem with food addiction.
I'm not sure eating is normal for a large majority of people.
For example, about 3/4 of Americans are overweight
Quit eating and tell us about it I guess...
I have, it's surprisingly easy to eat only once a week. I lost a lot of weight, but then gained it back after I went back to eating every day.