Yes
A phone is just a shittier computer. Please don’t ask about my computer.
I’m addicted to the internet
The phone is just one of many ways to get to it.
It’s like saying a drunkard is addicted to “the bottle”. They aren’t. They are addicted to alcohol.
I am addicted to dopamine.
My phone is one of the less harmful sources of a dopamine feedback loop.
Working with my therapist to get a hold on that.
Ugh same. I’ve tried to reduce screen time a few times but it inevitably leads to more skin picking/nail biting.
I’ve always been shit at being idle. There’s so many other activities I’ve been suggested to try instead but none have worked (usually either because of adhd or the chronic tendinitis in my wrist).
No, I’m addicted to the apps in my phone. Without them (or internet to use them) I don give a damn about that thing.
Is that what it is? Addiction?.. Or am I just absorbing information as I would?
For that matter, is it a detriment that I sit here, scroll, read, investigate, research, find random topic I never expected and learn something new?
My phone’s just a tool. Replace it with a book, and I’m still doing the same thing for myself, if it’s out of boredom.
I’m addicted to having something to do, the phone is the most obvious thing to look at when I don’t have anything else to do, but I never look at my phone when e.g. driving except for purposes of navigation or music control.
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Dependant is not the same thing as addicted.
Do you feel an uncontrollable urge to look at your phone, even when you do something else or when it isn’t appropriate? That would be addiction.
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No. I could stop af any time. I just choose not to. Its totally voluntary.
(Just like smokers, they could stop at anytime, they just choose not to)
My doctor said I should not drink brake fluid, I told him not to worry… I can stop anytime
It’s easy to stop smoking! I do it several tines a day!
Same
Yep, and we’re surrounded by enablers, too. I left my phone at home accidentally when I went out with the fam. “Fuckit, I don’t need a phone. Let’s just go…”
And not only did it become quickly obvious how much I use my phone (NFC payment, looking up store hours, nearest grocery store, etc) but how much everyone expected me to have a phone and everything on it. Use my phone to pay. I don’t have it, I gotta use a card. Give my kid cash for when we drop her off to hang out with friends with apple pay. Can’t do it, no phone. Here’s $15 cash. (Eye roll, carrying change is a burden now) Use loyalty card at the store. Nope, it’s on the phone. Wife has to use hers. Can’t get my daughter’s text messages, and even though she knew I’d left my phone, she still texted me.
People expect you to have all the conveniences on a phone, including the ones that are convenient to them.
When I’m tired, I am, and I hate it. With more energy I do other things, but the phone is always that super-low effort thing to pick up.
I have a book to read, and paper and pencil for sketching next to me, and those are the things I want to do, but they feel like effort right now.
I’m addicted to my laptop and basically any social media platform. Block one and I’ll find plenty of others to waste my time on.
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?
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.
I think that’s why a lot of people find addiction - to make up for what they don’t have.
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.
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”?
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?
With the ADHD, I need my alarms, calendar, timers and reminders to be anywhere remotely productive, so if I’m not addicted to my phone, I absolutely am dependent on it. I probably am addicted to it though. Most of us are, IMHO…
That’s a hard thing to say. I traveled in countries I couldn’t speak the language of before smart phones existed and it was a struggle of paper maps and relying on hospitality workers, guides, and locals who I could speak with as well as phrase dictionaries. It was a struggle and you’d have to be very careful about going off the beaten path.
With a phone I can just walk in a direction I choose, ask locals questions in the local language, and feel confident that if I got myself in a shitty situation I’d be able to sort it out.
