Anything that drives someone to ignore their essential routines or be incapable of controlling their actions to satisfy a craving is an addiction. Many people feel confident they aren’t addicted to illegal substances but are unaware that these 12 habits are just as bad.
Table of Contents
Doomscrolling
Many people are unaware they actively search for bad news. The addiction stems from negativity bias, uncertainty, FOMO, intent to be right, and lack of self-control.
A user who detached from doomscrolling asks herself this before clicking on a site, “Is this going to make me feel bad instantaneously, or does it connect to anything I can do something about?”
Validation
Others chase validation and acceptance, “whether it comes from video games, getting likes on a post, and from work.”
Caffeine
Some people also don’t realize that a seemingly harmless cup of joe in the morning or during the afternoon dip to boost their energy levels can also become a caffeine addiction. Avid coffee drinkers can suffer headaches, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and tiredness when they cut back their coffee to one cup a day.
Gambling
Gamblers never view gambling as a problem because they hope to win someday. But they never calculate how much money they lose or the relationships they ruin before it happens.
“Whenever you try to talk sense into them, they seem completely greed-fueled, like they’re willing to risk everything for that chance to be rich,” mentions a poster.
Weed
Many potheads also quickly point out that the plant lacks addictive properties. They explain that “it is not physically addictive where your body will have an extreme reaction from stopping. However, it’s absolutely psychologically addictive, a part they love to ignore.” They don’t talk about their withdrawal symptoms when they try to stop.
Social Media
Most people also don’t realize they shouldn’t feel an itch to be on social media. For starters, it wastes valuable time and often doesn’t add value to life. In fact, it causes envy, isolation, depression, low self-esteem, false identity, and more negativity.
Online Shopping
“It’s an addiction in the sense I’ll need to order one thing, but before I know it, I’ve made 20 orders for clothing. And then when the high of the addiction wears off, I have to waste time returning everything, and I retreat into depression, which results in me starting the cycle anew and buying more clothes,” confesses a user who is finding it hard to quit.
Alcoholism
Then there are those who “convince themselves their drinking is normal” or justify the habit. A poster who didn’t consider his drinking an issue says, “A few beers every night might seem harmless, but doing that 7 days a week certainly adds up to dangerous levels.”
Trading Stocks
This follows the gambling mentality where greed blinds people to massive losses in the hope of bagging a huge amount someday. Those with this addiction console themselves with statements like, “This trade will make up for the other losses so far,” or “My system works.”
Overthinking
It is also problematic when someone is consumed by their thoughts because they feel inclined to analyze, control, or fix a situation(s). “If I could turn it off, I could gladly do so,” shares a commentator, with another recommending meditation.
Sugar
Considering sugar is added to almost everything edible today, it can be hard to pin it as an addiction. But it is a clear addiction when one can’t function without eating candy, soda, baked foods, or anything with sugar.Â
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Source: Reddit
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