Taylor Lorenz"Technology, such as video games or social media, simply doesn’t influence dopamine receptors the way illicit substances do." https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2025/07/28/addiction_fiction_dopamine_is_not_why_kids_love_tiktok_1124276.html
JoeHenzi@taylorlorenz And those kids. Also helps distract from the main story: Social media knew they were connecting pedophiles with children and did nothing.
Dave Disser@taylorlorenz honest question: is there any comparable research addressing whether gambling addiction is more like drug addiction or like social media addiction?
Lisa the RueGood info. According to the DSM, I am dangerously addicted to WORK. 9/9 yes.
Do you think about WORK when not doing WORK? YES
Do you feel bad (sad, anxious) when unable to do WORK? YES
Do you find yourself spending more time/money on WORK? YES
Do you notice you’ve kept doing WORK even when you meant to stop or cut back? YES
Have you given up other hobbies/activities to do WORK? YES
Have you continued to do WORK despite it causing obvious problems (i.e., health, work, family commitments)? YES
Have you deceived others about the time you’ve spent doing WORK? YES
Do you find yourself doing WORK to relieve negative moods or stress? YES
Have you experienced the loss of a job/school/relationship because of WORK? YES
Have you deceived others about the time you’ve spent doing WORK? YES
Do you find yourself doing WORK to relieve negative moods or stress? YES
Have you experienced the loss of a job/school/relationship because of WORK? YES
"male perpetrators reliably describe [their abuses as] a fetish. This was Dominique Pelicot’s self-diagnosis, and it is, tellingly, Christian Ulmen’s too. Both of these men even reached for the language of addiction." --Kate Manne
... Why treating obsession as an addiction is sometimes an evasion of responsibility
Clarissa@lisarue that does indeed sound worrying. You feel sad or anxious if you can't work? You neglect family or health for work?
FWIW, people identifying entirely with their job and grinding themselves down to a nub leads to all sorts of issues, whether it's classified as an addiction or not.
(I dunno if you expect a pack on the back for being so dedicated, or if you're trying to point out a societal problem..?)
ash (he/it)@clarissawam @lisarue not everyone has the luxury of working salary, getting PTO, etc.
i work a full time job, hourly wages 5$ above minimum where I am and i would not be able to afford all of my expenses without help from family.
I have support systems but not everyone does. Many people are not privileged enough to be in a position where they can prioritise living a healthy life over expenses.
i work a full time job, hourly wages 5$ above minimum where I am and i would not be able to afford all of my expenses without help from family.
I have support systems but not everyone does. Many people are not privileged enough to be in a position where they can prioritise living a healthy life over expenses.
@ashesx2xashes @lisarue If only you had a healthy social security system, strong (or any) unions, a functioning healthcare system etc. Which I was alluding to with my “are you trying to point out a societal problem”.
The OP is a CTO according to their bio, so I doubt they are struggling to make ends meet. And this “I am expected to / want to spend all my free time working” is a very American attitude. (Also a societal problem…)
@clarissawam @lisarue I dont think its particularly an American attidute, given I'm not an American. It is part of a larger problem that's more prevalent in America and Canada as opposed to Western European countries. A majority of wages dont meet living costs, which contributes to financial anxiety. The unfortunate reality is that working long hours (which often isn't negotiable) has impacts on health and relationships. It's not an ego thing or wanting a pat on the back per se.
@clarissawam thanks for checking in I'm being funny about the definition of addiction! I invest a lot in my work but I'm extremely lucky in my work.
I agree it's a societal problem, work demands so much that people whose job is not their calling (and it shouldn't have to be!) would answer the same, not due to addiction, but because Western society structures jobs as nearly "total institutions". I wasn't clever enough to tie it into a societal problem so I'm glad you did so.
Mike Keleher@taylorlorenz so says the most online person, ever.
pkprotoplasm@taylorlorenz and yet here I sit with 2500 hours of Binding of Isaac logged to my Steam account. And somehow I’m not addicted to crack
Edit: yet
Tzimisce Flesh@pkprotoplasm @taylorlorenz I have almost a thousand hours in tf2 and I'm already craving meth, so your mileage may vary.
GrandeFelice@taylorlorenz the article's logic seems terribly flawed. Ok, many people don't understand dopamine's role in addiction. But as the the author points out, the clinical definition of addiction doesn't seem to depend on dopamine and many people struggling with e.g. social media use would probably answer yes to at least 5 of the 9 questions (and the reference to answering yes to ONE of the q's for reading books is laughable when the whole point is that a positive result requires 5 x yes)