What does the word mean to you? Drugs? Alcohol? It goes way beyond that and now there is a host of new things to add to addiction. Plus, do you ever see yourself as addicted? Ya may be surprised. The dictionary says this about addiction.
"ad·dic·tion
[əˈdikSH(ə)n]
NOUN
the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.
"he committed the theft to finance his drug addiction"
So let's think about more things. It can be anything that you find very difficult to give up or "put down". Alcohol, drugs, food, sex, T.V, games, our phone or other devices, smoking, Hoarding, gambling, the list can go on and on. Whenever you say addiction to somebody though it always goes to Drugs and alcohol. I don't drink!!! people may say "yeah but ya can stop watching T.V." No matter what's on the screen people can be glued to the T.V. "I don't Smoke" people may say. OK, but what about the hours of your life your burning due to your phone.
I decided about a year and a half ago to stop Facebook. Very liberating by the way. But, it wasn't easy at first. May of taken couple weeks to be able to say yep I don't want to check it. I got to the point of having the phone notify me when a new post came on or I got a message or a thumb up to a pic came on...AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH. Then post a pic and wonder why people ain't commenting or thumbing it up. Then there are the "friends" that you thought were "Friends" but then when you come off Facebook there is no contact. I kept messenger open to be able to still make contact with some people. So giving that up was AWESOME!!!!! Now I may start a page for the website and put a link but to be honest, I don't want to get into the same pattern I did before. But it will reach more people that the web site may help.
How much time do you spend on your phone? I will hold my hand up here I want and will start making moves to do something about my phone time through the day. The keep checking is nuts. Now, I'm glad that I am using my phone for a little more than surfing, but that can be the problem. I keep saying I'm gonna go for the tablet more for surfing then the phone. It's far to convenient to just keep pulling out and surfing. It has advantages of cause. Out shopping and want to check a price elsewhere....then yeah! Awesome. But I sit on the couch, T.V show on and surf...WHAT!!!!! Which one am I choosing? T.V or the bloody phone? Then look around the room at a family time and we are all doing it. Not even communicating with each other. Each one of us wrapped in a different mental world than the one we are actually in. The "real world". Then the T.V program finishes and we say...Damn! I missed it. There is a lot we miss to addiction. So one thing I plan on doing is putting the phone down for a specific amount of time. An hour here an hour there and extend it to a day. I will use it just for music and the apps I use for meditation etc. No texting, no surfing. If I wanna talk to somebody then cool. It will help me get through my phone fear issue. Mind you I have been getting better at calling friends instead of messaging.
Food is another addiction. Some overeat and some hardly eat anything at all. How about addiction to work. Think about the issues that bring about. The rest of the family don't get to see the one working all the time. Arguments and break up of families.
So take a look at some of the things that may be consuming you. Taking up your valuable time. Time not spent on maybe holding your head up and seeing the beauty out the car window while a passenger on a trip. The damage that over or under eating may be doing. Let alone wear and tear on the body from alcohol or hard drugs. Please if you feel you need help then do so. Search online and find help.
We have an opioid problem here. Over prescribed drugs that now thousands of good people are addicted too. This is a major problem and needs tackling from so many angles. Everybody is quick to look down their nose at a hard drug addict right? Or an Alcoholic. But maybe they should look at themselves too. Can you put your phone down without checking it?
So, please. Try and have some compassion and love for those struggling.
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones
Namaste