Truthfully, is everyone addicted to something?

Yes, if you are here, then it is Fluther.

This heavenly site.

I am addicted to life, MY way!

Negative. The definition of addiction is clearly defined.
You can like something a lot but it’s not an addiction.

I am truly addicted to breathing. I like it, I need it, and I want to do it forever. =)

I’m addicted to shopping

Fluther I love you. Fluther I do. When we’re apart my heart beats only for youuuu.

Quite possibly.

I’ve visited Fluther compulsively since the day I joined. I’d love to say it’s because the site is great (which it is), but it’s probably because I am easily addicted.

Otherwise, the big one is computer games. It was a real big addiction. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled countless times, I’ve broken the installation discs, I’ve redacted product keys with black Sharpies. And in the end I just go back and download illegal versions/image files of the games, borrow product keys from friends….

I did the math once. Thanks to an app called Xfire (think AIM for computer gamers), which tracks playing time, I learned recently that the thousands and thousands of hours I devoted to gaming as an adolescent amounted to almost an entire year of my life spent in front of the computer – not reading, not learning, but pwning noobs.

Pardon the cliche but it was a wake-up call to say the least.

@nxknxk . Glad you recognized it. I see this trend increasing in so many walks of life. I wonder why it is increasing?

Only if you stretch the meaning of the word addicted to means everything we need to simply exist, such as breathing air, drinking water, eating food, and sleeping. We all have a physical and mental dependence on those things. In my definition, addiction is an unnatural dependence on something, and not everyone fits that definition.

Seems like every man is addicted to pornography. The difference between one man and the next is how hard he fights against it. Some succeed at refusing to participate and others do not.

@skadu I disagree. I’d argue that men are addicted to sex, if anything. Pornography being the closest some can get to it.

Addressing the big topic. No, I don’t think that everyone is addicted to something. Just as
@The_Compassionate_Heretic says. Addiction is something very specific.

If I had to pick one thing to say that I’m “addicted” to, it’d be computer games. But there’s no real addiction.
I don’t feel withdrawal when I’m away from computers. They don’t plague my every waking thought. I don’t become depressed after being away from compute games. I don’t lie my way out of things to be with my computer more. So on and so forth.
I just love computer games. Perhaps an unhealthy amount, but that doesn’t define an addiction.

@Sarcasm So maybe it’s not sex or pornography…maybe it’s the computer. Haha.

Seriously though, you’re right about sex being the addiction.

I think everyone has some type of addiction. I’m a smoker and a caffeine freak. But like my mom, she is addicted to shopping. She goes to Walmart at least everyday and sometimes several times a day on Saturday. She goes to the mall all the time and shops on QVC and online too. Not all addictions have to be to something “bad”.

Im high on Jesus!!

I can believe in addiction in the case of drugs or if a person suffers from a mental disorder, but for everything else I believe people aren’t addicted, they just don’t have the willpower to make the responsible choice. They hide behind the perfect excuse to indulge in a behavior they enjoy.

You want to quit smoking? Easy: make the decision and stick to it. Sounds cliché, sounds easy to say but although it’s hard to put it in practice for a few weeks, you finally discover what a crock this cigarette addiction thing really is.

Coffee and Fluther