Dr Gabor Mate defines addiction as “Addiction is manifested in any behaviour that a person craves, finds temporary relief or pleasure in but suffers negative consequences as a result of, and yet has difficulty giving up. In brief: craving, relief, pleasure, suffering, impaired control. Note that this definition is not restricted to drugs but could encompass almost any human behaviour, from sex to eating to shopping to gambling to extreme sports to TV to compulsive internet use: the list is endless.”
Understanding this helps to start building pathways in to recovery from any problematic behaviour..
An article in the UK Guardian manages to explain some basic ideas about addiction, how it is serviced by contemporary trends and behaviours and what this might mean in terms of behaviour changes.
There are a few quotes in the body of this piece as well as a direct link to the article.
“….implying that social media addiction is partly a self-medication for depression and partly a way of curating a better self in the eyes of others.”
These two ideas would seem to fit with any kind of addiction, a form of self medicating and a need to be connected or accepted.
“When we are on the machine (device) our goal is to stay connected. As one addict explains, she is not playing to win (on social media “be liked”) but to “stay in that machine zone where nothing else matters”. (Pubs and opium dens also have a history of blotting out daylight to allow users to “enjoy” themselves without the intrusion of time. (The sense of dropping out of time is common to many addictions.)
Once again the “connection” is perhaps best seen as an attachment, in addiction we can attach to substances, behaviours and people which re-enforce our chosen method of “self medication” or our maladapted coping mechanisms.
Most addicts may be better understood as not having a substance problem, rather a substance solution. The solution creates a whole new set of problems, but they feel they need something to cope, and one of the side effects of those choices is avoiding reality.
The gambling industry has long recognised this desire to avoid social reality and the apps business is clearly fishing in the same pond (Tristan Harris, Google’s former design ethicist, calls your smartphone “The Slot Machine in Your Pocket”).
The goal in modern gambling is time on the machines, and like the tech business’ “time on device”, it is all that counts, everything about the machine (the app, the platform) is designed to cultivate that. (Pubs and opium dens also have a history of blotting out daylight to allow users to “enjoy” themselves without the intrusion of time. (The sense of dropping out of time is common to many addictions.)
If you are worried about your social media use try this test
Any form of addiction is serious – if you or a loved one is suffering from an addiction please see a medical professional as soon as you can.
