It’s hard to wean off one’s addiction, I had heard. Almost everyone is confident that he/she can pull off from their addiction whenever they please. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about addiction:
Addiction is a state in which the body relies on a substance for normal functioning. When this substance is removed, it can cause withdrawal. It was first used in 1906, in reference to opium (there is an isolated instance from 1779, with ref. to tobacco). The first use of the adjective addict (with the meaning of “delivered, devoted”) was in 1529 and comes from Latin addictus, pp. of addicere (“deliver, yield, devote,” from ad-, “to” + dicere, “say, declare”).
Addiction was a term used to describe a devotion, attachment, dedication, inclination, etc. Nowadays, however, the term addiction is used to describe a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences to the individual’s health, mental state or social life.
I believe that the definitions given over here are a bit too constricted. They are a product of a peephole effect in the writer’s vision. The term addiction in a broader sense, might not be necessarily associated with a substance as such. I believe that addiction of any kind is repetetion of any act to pacify some kind of insecurity that a person has. It might lead into a state where the body relies on that act for its normal functioning. Now this dependence of the body on the act might just be psychological in nature and not biological. This psychological dependence is more often than not the cause of addictions all around us; This is the part of the definition or the meaning of the term that most people miss out on.
On the lighter side, I am just glad that I realized that I was slowly getting addicted to web socialization; a thing that comprises overuse of social networking websites and also overindulgence in chatting via the internet. It feels good that I have been able to use these tools only when required, and not as a passive entertainment, as before. I have generated a lot of free time because of that; Which is spent on doing something constructive at least, like trying to get kde working on Windows*, planning the school reunion, watching complete Star Wars series back-to-back during the weekend…
*I have been stuck with Windows XP on my home box as my two awesome drives refuse to work, which sucks royally. To rub it in, the Ubuntu 8.04 disk sits right here in front of me.
