Addicted Society: Things we don’t realise we’re addicted to

*I am not discounting “real” addictions. Addiction is serious, scary, and important to separate from other things. By ‘addiction’ in this post, I mean unhealthy dependency and obsession.*

Food

We can’t stop eating. We socialise around food, talk about food. We eat when we’re happy, sad, celebrating, angry, bored. We eat our feelings. We eat simply because we can nowadays. In the past, it was hard to come by and was purely for survival. But now, most of us will never ever know what real starvation is. What it feels like to be truly hungry. The hunger we think we feel is just cravings and boredom half the time!

We’re obsessed with food, so much so there are films about personified food! It’s crazy. We eat more than we need to. I’m not saying stop eating – I’m not going to – but we should try to observe our habits and why we eat so much as a society. Of course, we also need to be wary of obesity and other health conditions that come from eating obsessively.

Spending money

It’s really bad how much money we waste! I can’t speak for everyone, but I for one love spending money and it’s a problem. That gratification, that dopamine hit, is addictive. It feels so good. Every time you get an Amazon parcel it’s like frickin Christmas! We are over-consumers. We live in a consumerist culture. We buy more and more and do it as if filling a hole, but it’s a bottomless pit. It can’t be filled that way.

Again, we need to be more conscious of our spending habits and why we feel we need so much to be happy. I’m addicted to buying books. It used to be clothes; it used to be food. If it’s not one thing, it’s another with us. We all overspend on something, and it’s about having that awareness and taking action to stop that potentially toxic addiction.

Social media

I won’t go into this again. I’m tiring myself out with how much I speak about this addiction. There are documentaries about it. YouTube videos about it. And I’ve briefly spoken about it myself when I decided to take a break from it. We need to be aware of why we use social media and what role it plays in our lives. It’s toxic to overuse, yet millions of us do.

Alcohol

I don’t have much of a stance on this one as someone who rarely drinks. I’ve spoken to family members about it because I worry that someone can easily go from “in control” to “out of control” easily without knowing it’s happening, though. Our society, much like with food, operates around alcohol consumption. It’s for happy times and sad times alike. But once again, there’s a fine line.

Depending on it to be there for you to make you happy, to “fix” your problems, is very dangerous. If you can’t sleep without it, can’t hang out with friends without it, can’t go a week without it, and reach for it whenever you’re sad, I’d rethink your dependency and need for alcohol.

*Please get expert advice if you’re worried about this for yourself or someone you love.*

Hustle culture

And lastly, we’re addicted to doing. We’re obsessed with being busy, so much so we are tired, stressed and breaking apart at the seams. Yet we see it as right and cool! That you’re lazy if you don’t work full time and then have a side hustle and ten hobbies and four kids and a social life! God damn it. No, we need a break. We need a slower lifestyle. We need room to just be!

Productivity = good.

Being busy all the time = bad!

Which one of these is a problem for you personally? I need to work on my spending mostly. Please take care, pay attention to what you’re doing and why, and get help if needs be.

Sincerely,

S. xx