You can absolutely hate a thing you’re using and feel like quitting isn’t possible.
I’ve been told I’m not an addict. I’ve been told social media is addictive. I’ve been told I’m on social media. I’m rattling around the contradictions.
Addicts can also love the thing and not feel like quitting, because the thing they’re addicted to gives them a feeling of empowerment or a release from anxiety.
Social media fulfills a craving for socializing that humans naturally desire. It offers to fulfill this natural desire through a low-cost, easy-access interface. And it feeds this craving continuously, often artificially through synthetic interactions with no real counterparty. And it does so with the goal of influencing the audience’s understanding of the world and consumption habits, two things humans also natively seek.
Talking about social media like an addiction misses the core drive towards its adoptions and proliferation. You might as well say you’re addicted to food and air as to say you’re addicted to text and video. These are sensory stimulations everyone is always pining for, whether or not a phone screen is the delivery mechanism.
The challenge people face isn’t the social media, it is the absence of non-social media as an alternative. We’re caged animals looking out the window and you’re complaining about “window addiction”.
I’ve been told I’m not an addict. I’ve been told social media is addictive. I’ve been told I’m on social media. I’m rattling around the contradictions.
There is no contradiction here: You can use something addictive without getting addicted. Ref. all the non-alcoholics that regularly consume alcohol, all the mountain climbers that aren’t adrenaline junkies, and all the foodies that aren’t obese sugar addicts.
Addicts can also love the thing and not feel like quitting (…)
Nobody said otherwise. What was said is that addicts can hate the thing they’re addicted to, and still be unable to quit. It’s the fact that you find yourself unable to quit even if you want to that indicates you’re addicted, not whether you actually want to quit.
You might as well say you’re addicted to food and air as to say you’re addicted to text and video.
False equivalence. Things necessary to sustain yourself are never referred to as addiction. Sure, you can be addicted to these things, but that implies you’re consuming them excessively (beyond what is needed for healthy sustenance).
But the idea that people can spend hours of their lives on YouTube and then claim “I hate this”… No you don’t. You obviously don’t hate it. You love it. You love your slop.
The whole point here is that there is no direct implication from using something and liking to use it, the reason being that addicts quite commonly dislike the thing they’re addicted to, yet continue using it.
You’ve obviously never been an addict.
You can absolutely hate a thing you’re using and feel like quitting isn’t possible.
We could say that “hate” isn’t a complete accounting of the feelings in a complex situation, maybe.
Obviously.
I’ve been told I’m not an addict. I’ve been told social media is addictive. I’ve been told I’m on social media. I’m rattling around the contradictions.
Addicts can also love the thing and not feel like quitting, because the thing they’re addicted to gives them a feeling of empowerment or a release from anxiety.
Social media fulfills a craving for socializing that humans naturally desire. It offers to fulfill this natural desire through a low-cost, easy-access interface. And it feeds this craving continuously, often artificially through synthetic interactions with no real counterparty. And it does so with the goal of influencing the audience’s understanding of the world and consumption habits, two things humans also natively seek.
Talking about social media like an addiction misses the core drive towards its adoptions and proliferation. You might as well say you’re addicted to food and air as to say you’re addicted to text and video. These are sensory stimulations everyone is always pining for, whether or not a phone screen is the delivery mechanism.
The challenge people face isn’t the social media, it is the absence of non-social media as an alternative. We’re caged animals looking out the window and you’re complaining about “window addiction”.
There is no contradiction here: You can use something addictive without getting addicted. Ref. all the non-alcoholics that regularly consume alcohol, all the mountain climbers that aren’t adrenaline junkies, and all the foodies that aren’t obese sugar addicts.
Nobody said otherwise. What was said is that addicts can hate the thing they’re addicted to, and still be unable to quit. It’s the fact that you find yourself unable to quit even if you want to that indicates you’re addicted, not whether you actually want to quit.
False equivalence. Things necessary to sustain yourself are never referred to as addiction. Sure, you can be addicted to these things, but that implies you’re consuming them excessively (beyond what is needed for healthy sustenance).
The whole point here is that there is no direct implication from using something and liking to use it, the reason being that addicts quite commonly dislike the thing they’re addicted to, yet continue using it.