Addiction

The word addiction should be split into two parts, one for the people who are physically addicted to stuff, drugs, alcohol ect... And another part for the ones that are addicted to chocolate, video games and such.

When someone tells me "I'm addicted to *****" I take that as a serious thing, as in you cannot go a day without it without feeling sick, even if you have a busy day where you don't have time to get bored and miss it you still feel sick from the lack of it. 

In my opinion this is addiction.These are the people I feel sorry for and want to help!

The people who say they are addicted to chocolate... It annoys me to be honest. I've seen a lot of addiction go about and to me it's a sensitive subject and I don't like it when people claim to be "addicted" and expect sympathy from the people around them just because they like eating chocolate when bored.

If you have ever been addicted to a substance that does not give you a physical effect from using it, let's continue using chocolate as an example for now: You have had a super busy day! Where you had no time to get bored and think "what to do now" at the end of the day, think back. Have you had any chocolate that day? Did you go around missing it all day? That's unlikely.

Some people convince themselves they are addicted to activities they enjoy, or they use the word "addiction" as an excuse to continue doing it. I do not respect these addictions to be completely honest, I am aware that the word addiction means : mood altering substance or behavior despite adverse consequences. So really it does cover it all! I can be addicted to tapping a pen on the table and making that annoying little clicking noise over and over... As long as I like it and keep doing it instead of doing homework, I am addicted!

But really can you compare this with being addicted to crack? Or alcohol? No! You can't. This is why there should be two different words for these completely different situations you can be in because one deserves a lot more attention then the other.

The "strong" kind of addiction, drugs and alcohol and such, these need medical help, not all become addicted to these either but you can actually get physically addicted to it, where you get really really sick if you don't have it, that's an addiction that you need to get help with and a lot of people continue having troubles with it their entire life.

This "weaker" kind of addiction is more of a mental addiction,  you want to do that instead of facing what you really should do, cos this is an easier way out.

It's not a medical condition that I will feel sorry for you for having if you just prefer playing a video game instead of doing real life stuff, it is hard to stop doing what feels better over what is hard work and effort. Video games are designed to make you want to play more, and do better, but that does not mean every person that ever plays it will get addicted, only some people do, mostly people that want to hide from reality, focusing on a game distracts you from other worries you might have and makes you only feel what is then happening in the game.

If it becomes a problem for you living your life because of a video game, is this an addiction that needs therapy? Or is the real thing you need help with the stuff that made you want to escape reality in the first place? If you focus your efforts on making your life better instead of playing this game then you will no longer feel the need to hide inside a game.

If your sad and eat chocolate then deal with what makes you sad, don't eat chocolate to feel better. This is about dealing with your problems and taking control of your life instead of dealing with the consequences of not doing it in the first place.

In general I feel if you just deal with your problems in life and don't tell yourself your "addicted" to stuff you enjoy doing but who has no actual effect on you physically you will be better off. 

I enjoy chocolate probably more then the average person, but I know not to eat it whenever I feel like it, it's simple enough that you resist your urge to eat it sometimes. Self control is not fun all the time, but nothing good comes for free. 

So the point of this rant... How can we call these two things addiction? The same word? It feels wrong to me.