The Strangest Things People Have Seen Someone Get Addicted To
Reddit user /JARClol asked: 'What is the weirdest thing you are or saw someone addicted to?'
Content Warning: Discussions of Addiction
We've all heard of strange, inedible things that people have made a habit of eating, like paper or glue. Unfortunately, there are instances where eating these things works more like an addiction than a dietary choice.
There are a lot of other things that people might become addicted to, too, that have nothing to do with food, but which also are not the usual culprits for addiction.
If someone that we know is addicted to something unusual and isn't hiding it the same way that someone addicted to drugs might, it can be a really strange experience to witness.
Curious about others' experiences, Redditor JARClol asked:
"What is the weirdest thing you are or saw someone addicted to?"
Packing Peanuts
"I used to know a girl who was addicted to eating those little polystyrene chips that are used for packaging."
"She always had a bag of them with her. The noise she made when she was munching on them used to set my teeth on edge."
- -Some__Random-
"Don't tell her about the biodegradable ones (which actually taste nutty)."
- Hardwarestore_Senpai
A Hairy Situation
"A roommate in college was addicted to hair. She collected hair and made hair people. She would use the community vacuum cleaner, take out the hair, wash it, and make hair people."
"She would also go to salons asking for the cut hair 'for her family’s garden' and then proceed to make hair people."
"She had hundreds of them with names and stories about them."
"I kept my hairbrush locked up after it was cleaned out the first time."
- bzsbal
Pen and Ink
"Eating markers, like the tube of it. Inside the casing. I told his mother and her reply was, 'Oh, he's doing it again,' like... Again? Toxic ink? Again? I don't mean licking it. I mean chewing. Black ink in saliva and swallowing the ink-soaked sponge."
- Jazzlike_Grab_7228
"I knew a dude in high school who ate the ink from pens. Every class, gnawing on a pen, eventually breaking it open then sucking on it like a straw. He regularly would be drooling ink. I left that school sophomore year, and I wonder whatever happened to Abe."
- throwawaydbagain
"Abe? Was his last name LINKoln?"
- GetaGoodLookCostanza
The Strawberry Milk Fan
"I used to work with a girl who would just chug liters of strawberry milk. Every time I went to the toilet after her it stank of milk. She was eventually diagnosed with Type-Two Diabetes and gave up the milk… briefly."
- lifesyndromes
"Yeah, I'm not surprised. I'm Type-Two, and strawberry milk usually has more sugar in it than chocolate milk. The smaller-sized cartons you get at lunch usually have 22 to 40 grams of sugar in them and a s**tton of sodium (no, I'm not joking), so a liter would have hundreds of grams in it."
"I got it after 23 years of poor choices and family medical history. She got it by decimating her pancreas and s**tting a machine gun."
"And you said briefly, meaning she's probably worse off. Like, I still have sugar, but I try and have less of it. I f**k up a lot because it's hard, but f**k, if she went back to drinking liters of it, I wouldn't be surprised if she's had some other issues."
- JediBoJediPrime29
Just a Taste
"My best friend used to eat fabric softener in high school. She wouldn't have huge mouthfuls or gulps; she would take just enough to coat her tongue."
"She would keep bottles of it hidden around her room so she could have a taste whenever the mood struck her. I love her to death, but she’s a strange one, lol (laughing out loud)."
- officiallyedgy
Weren't We All?
"I used to be addicted to Candy Crush back in the day. After running out of five lives, I couldn't wait for them to be available so I would forward my clock just to be able to play. My phone was set to the year 2030ish by the time I stopped playing."
- moolucifer
"Wow. You time traveled. That's a loophole though, isn't it? You never had to pay for fake things."
- Hardwarestore_Senpai
Just After a Few Beers
"Not so much addicted but I had a friend in college that would huff the fluid in his zippo lighter when he was really drunk."
"Treavor wasn’t allowed to have his lighter after a few beers."
- shavemejesus
Albuterol Tremors
"I had a good friend in high school who had asthma who’d take hits off his inhaler, all day long. We’d be talking and he’d just casually whip it out whenever and take a hit. Ended up going to bed a couple of years after we graduated and never woke up."
- Magormgo
"I'm sorry. He probably f**ked his heart up. I hate taking my inhaler. It makes my heart race and makes me shake and feel like s**t."
- Weeniebuttcorgo
"Growing up, I used to take two Albuterol vials in my slow, old 90s nebulizer during asthma episodes. That thing was a TANK."
"I got a brand-spankin' new travel nebulizer in college and remember that first time I used two vials with it. I thought I was having a heart attack. That thing is POWERFUL and I wasn't expecting it. Two vials were far too strong and had me shaking for over an hour."
"I still have it to this day, and when I take it once a year or so for a flare-up, even one vial still makes me shake a bit."
- HorseGirl667
The Truth Behind the Problem
"I visited Nairobi for work around 2000 and the street kids all walked around with a small bottle of glue stuck to their upper lip so they were basically sniffing glue continually. It was extremely sad."
- Pretty-Balance-Sheet
"Probably something similar here in the Philippines. Homeless street kids sniff a plastic bag with a bit of contact cement in it to get rid of/to numb the hunger sensation. Not an addiction but a survival tactic… in my opinion."
- cssndrsrno
"Same in Zambian. Not stuck to their lip but carried and sniffed when needed. It was apparently to numb the body from feeling the cold in winter. Painfully sad."
- iron-clad-underwear
Never Underestimate Soda
"My first-ever girlfriend was genuinely addicted to Coca-Cola (self-admitted). She would have a glass as soon as she woke up and drink it all day."
"The one or two times I was there when her family had run out of it, she was irritable, anxious, and so grumpy until she was able to get down to the store to buy more."
"Strangely, it wasn't even the caffeine or sugar she was addicted to, because having a coffee or a different type of soda wasn't enough to ease her withdrawal symptoms."
- SheAlwaysHasMyHeart
"I had a friend who slept with a cooler of Diet Pepsi next to the bed. He had a large Slurpee cup that was always full, no matter where he was."
"We did a five-day offshore fishing trip. He ran out late on day four."
"As we pulled the boat into the dock, he literally ran and jumped onto the dock and raced to the soda machine at the far end."
- LongJumping_Local910
That's One Way to Use It
"My Spanish teacher was addicted to Vix VapoRub! Not to use it traditionally, though."
"She was eating it."
"Apparently, she knows that it's not a secret, because she ate it using a tongue depressor right in front of us, during the first week of school. I guess she figured we couldn't poke fun at her if she owned it."
"She literally demonstrated! She said her grandfather taught her and she likes the consistency/overwhelming scent."
"I can't imagine it's good for her."
- meg6ust6ala6titons
Live to Game
"Rocket League. I'm not even joking. The guy was in his 20s and playing up to eight hours a day."
"He used to be super social and became a hermit pretty much for seven years. He would pretend to be sick at work so he could play three days straight."
"He lost his whole social life. He spent New Year's every one of those years sitting in a dark room with windows covered, playing that game."
"I tried to get him to stop but never worked."
- IMNO-LEGEND
Ice Chewing
"I used to be addicted to chewing on ice, or maybe obsessed. I would bring a cup full of crushed ice with me everywhere. When I went to the beach, I would just bring a bag of ice from the gas station and sit and eat it."
"I stopped for ages and then became temporarily obsessed again during one of my pregnancies. I was checked for vitamin deficiencies both times but nothing came up."
- mistyoceania
The Use of Chapstick
"I'm addicted to chapstick. I can't go more than three hours without applying it."
"I think my lips are relying on the chapstick now because they get dry so quickly. And it feels like nails on a chalkboard when they do, I can't focus on anything else besides my lips being dry until I get some chapstick, lol (laughing out loud)."
- ComprehensivePie8809
"Here’s a pro tip someone told me: before you put chapstick on wet your lips so there’s actual moisture to lock in."
"I also find Vaseline is way cheaper and way more effective. I use it once in the morning and once before bed and I’ve gotten chapped lips like five times in the last seven years."
- sadkrampus
An Interesting Choice!
"Judge Judy. And it was me. My boyfriend introduced me to the show in my mid-thirties and I binged it on YouTube, listening to it whilst working in our warehouse/driving/cleaning/anything."
"Six years later, if I have a task that I really need to get into productive mode for, I put her on and my brain shifts gears."
"At one point, it felt weird to work without her voice in the background yelling at people. She’s like my white noise. She’s my default soundtrack."
- Fuzeillear
These accounts were honestly fascinating, and in some causes haunting, to read.
It just goes to show that, first of all, we all like different things, and second of all, you never know what is going to qualify as "too much of a good thing" for one person compared to someone else.
It's important to know that everything and anything can be addictive.
And we're not talking about the obvious ones you see depicted in films and movies.
You can be online too much to the point where it impacts your personal relationships.
You can exercise too much to chase those endorphins.
People can take anything to extremes.
We have to be careful.
Redditor mobstersquid wanted to discuss addiction, in all forms. So they asked everyone:
"What's something addicting that people don't realize is addicting?"
Rage
Angry Inside Out GIF by Disney PixarGiphy"Hate. Constantly trying to find reasons to hate."
nunchaitae
"Everybody wants outrage straight to their veins and Lord help anyone who calls them out on it."
2drawnonward5
Security
"Being sad or angry. It’s like a security blanket and if I don’t have it, who am I? It’s addicting and comforting being angry and sad."
TVkillyourTV
"It's the worst, because the downside is huge but the upside is so fleeting. You need to keep seeking out things to be mad about or you get that post-righteousness drop back to mere normality. Took me a looooong time to get over it. Contempt, hate, condescension, and judgment are the world's cheapest drugs."
ANewMachine615
Neverending
"The last chip you keep eating."
herpderpgood
"I have diagnosed OCD and I'm really bad about this because it's like the last one doesn't feel satisfying enough and then before you know it my stomach hurts because I went beyond being full, took me awhile to have self control over this so I wouldn't hurt myself."
Medical_Season3979
"I firmly believe that potato chips are broken up so much that it forces people to eat them by the bags. The only potato chips that can consistently be measured in calories is Pringles because they're in a can and actually have chips."
simajae
Let's Talk
"Chatting/Constant exchange of messages and communication."
drawnandchill
"I think this is mostly because the time you spent chatting with some one is suddenly gone so you feel really funny about it."
"One way to combat this is to find something else to fill your time, like a new hobby. I used to have late night chats with a friend for extended period of time and on days that I don't, I experience a bit of anxiety... keep checking the messenger over and over again. Take your mind off and do something else."
warofexodus
Do Sour
steve sugar GIFGiphy"Sugar. It’s in almost everything, and people don’t realize it. It’s addicting."
Fear_Full
Sugar will end us all.
$$$
Pay Me Kim Kardashian GIF by GQGiphy"Making money."
"Oh wow I didn't know, sounds awful. Can you tell me how to do it so I can avoid it?"
BabylonsDissidence
Alone
"Being alone and staying home."
Situation-Candid
"Yeah, I work remotely and live alone. Like 98% it’s fantastic (sometimes I do feel very lonely). I wonder if I’ll ever be able to go into an office or live with someone again."
"I suck at dating because I get really anxious about the thought of being away from home for a night or having someone spend the night. Even with friends, I’ve offered to have people stay over on a few occasions and deep down hope that they don’t stay."
OrangeTree81
Love Me
"Getting attention/compliments."
"How do I know? Personal experience."
"Because f**k the only thing I live for is trying to get as many genuine compliments as possible. I want people to like me and my ideas, and I'm tired of lying that I don't."
PsychologicalTear899
Nasal Fun
"Nasal sprays for colds/congestion."
reddirich
"After being addicted for like 10 years, I mentioned it to my family doctor without much hope. She was shocked I never said before, and prescribed me Flixonase (Fluticasone Propionate Nasal) for 14 days. It really helped, and I never used oxymetazoline again."
alteredxenon
Teeth Out
nervous spongebob squarepants GIFGiphy"Biting nails (I know it weird)."
forkshape
"Oooh I feel this. I bit my nails so bad they bled until my late twenties. It took so long to break the habit. I finally managed to do it by stopping one finger at a time rather than all at once but it was incredibly difficult."
prinkes
I feel attacked. Do you have anything to add to this list? Let us know in the comments.
Many of us have a tendency to obsess over things, whether they're behavioral or tangible. You know the feeling. You just can't stop thinking about them.
But if our fixations get to the point where we are letting them interfere with our lives, are the detriments something to be concerned about or should we trust our ability to control ourselves?
Curious to hear about the things we love so much, it's almost criminal, Redditor mred6453 asked:
"What's not a drug but is so addictive that it could be classified as one?"
Our social engagement is an extension of who we are. And that's a problem.
That Device
"Phones :( i really hate taking a dump without it."
– Apozero
Our Current Activity
"Scrolling reddit posts."
– razeronion
"This is more true than people realize. Scrolling works very similarly in the brain as actual drugs and can cause very real negative side effects such as addiction and feeling more anxiety and depression in general."
"The theory is that if you use too much of anything that causes an instant surge of dopamine the balance in the brain shifts so that what used to cause the 'high' becomes the new normal and the old normal feels like something's missing. All of a sudden it will be impossible to wait five minutes for the train without looking at you phone several times while you slowly start to show signs of depression and anxiety in your life."
– the_monkey_of_lies
The Usual Suspects
"gambling, video games, internet, social media."
– nutcrackr
These aren't drugs, but they sure taste good.
The Treat That Keeps On Giving
"Chips and salsa"
– CrumbledTheCookies
"I eat this every day. I’ve gone to the store just because I’m out of salsa, and then I have to come up with other stuff to buy to justify the trip. It’s crazy."
– emthejedichic
What's Not To Love?
"Chocolate."
– KitKatCrunchie
Soft Drink, Hard To Quit
"Not being flippant, I can not for life, health, or wealth give up Coca-Cola. I've tried for 30 years and withdrawal is not something I can manage to get through. I go back every time."
"EDIT TO ADD: It isn't physical, I don't get headaches or other bodily symptoms. It's psychological withdrawal issues."
– misslilytoyou
This'll Make You Smile
"CHEESE"
– hollywhyareyouhere
"Someone on the Internet once said cheese is heroin but for people with jobs."
– Tthelaundryman
White Powder
"Sugar."
– 94H_Civ_Equiv
"Came here to say this. In the lives of those who abuse sugar, it usually fits a good part of the definition of addiction: 'continued use in the face of harm.' As it says in The Book of The Subgenius, 'If sugar was discovered today, it would be a controlled substance. Sure, cocaine is pretty damn bad for you, but at least it’s not half your kid’s diet!'”
– SantaRosaJazz
Some people tend to engage in these behaviors too often.
Delay, Delay, Delay
"Procrastination."
– Superfruitdrastic
"Wasn’t there a thing called revenge bedtime procrastination? Like you delay your bedtime so you can keep the next day further away?"
– obiwantogooutside
Importance Of We
"Validation."
– Zer0Summoner
"That's exactly what I was going to say! You're smart, and probably also attractive!"
– tarlton
Questionable Payoff
"Academic validation. I made myself miserable for years so I could become valedictorian. For what?"
– Its_Me_again21
"I look back at those years now and realize I missed out on some basic experiences: concerts, school dances (prom), camping trips with friends, pizza/movie/game nights…"
"I will never get them back. Sure, I can host and/or attend them now, but it’s different during those formative years."
– jimbolic
I'm shamelessly addicted to coffee.
The aroma alone puts me in a happy place.
I probably drink too much of it, however, as I've become numb to the effects of caffeine.
Some people drink tea at night, I have two cups of coffee to get me to bed. Maybe that's bad, but if the powers that be ever bans coffee, hold my espresso.
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Plenty of addictive substances wreak physical havoc on the body of the user. With these addictions, the government has stepped in to make a lawful incentive against using them.
But addictive behavior is just that--behavior.
It isn't confined to the worst of the worst. If an addictive tendency is present, it will find a way to rear its head in daily life.
And so even the most legal, seemingly innocent activities, foods, and items can become villainous sources of the problematic pull.
And arguably, they're the toughest addictions out there. After all, they're not bad enough to become illegal. So they're always around, up for grabs, calling people's name.
A recent Reddit thread pulled together some of the most insidious, above water behaviors and substances.
Account28784 asked, "What legal thing are you addicted to?"
Is Everyone Here Guilty?
"The internet in general, I hardly read anymore or do things I used to enjoy, I'm just hooked on the internet." -- sami2503
"Same. Yesterday I saw a thread about hobbies people have started up since the pandemic started and I've never felt so unproductive. I saved the thread to get ideas for new hobbies. But here I am - still on reddit" -- jasminel96
No Pull More Powerful Than the Biological Imperative
"Sugar" -- look_for_the_helpers
"Truly an addictive substance" -- unnaturalorder
"Sugar, could be the most addicting drug. I think people should shift their conspiracy efforts there. Lol everything has sugar, corn syrup, etc. causes health issues with how much access we have to it... obesity, diabetes, cancers, etc" -- Proto216
*Slightly Informed* Gambling
"Gambling on the stock market like a degenerate" -- CaptFeelsGay
"Oh, that can get real bad real fast if you start doing crazy sh** with options" -- throwaway8u3sH0
"I've always said that gambling stocks is the same as betting on black in a casino." -- crotts1229
Gimme Gimme Gummy
"Walmart sells generic fruit snacks that I swear have crack in them. I actually have to limit myself to only buying a box every three months because I will INHALE them." -- RedactedNPC
"For me it's Mott's fruit snacks. They're considerably more chewy than other fruit snacks i've had and they're so damn addicting." -- versionRaccoon
How Wholesome
"Drinking water" -- ultimatefinesser
"Yeah, I drink probably 5-7 liters a day. I honestly don't know how some people drink barely any - I'm always thirsty!" -- ctadgo
"Hydrate or diedrate" -- musicalwaluigi
Everywhere You Look
"Caffine. It's actually a very physically addictive drug." -- faget460
"I am as well. I've recently discovered the power of cold brew coffee and I'm hopelessly hooked. Every evening I set up my French press with coffee and put it in the fridge for morning. It's delightful but it has me by the balls." -- eternalrefuge86
"I'm worthless before having some kind of caffeine." -- PMYOURBOOBOVERFLOW
Corporate Treats
"Subway's Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are just so much better than anything I can make myself. Heat em'in the microwave for 15 seconds and they taste as if they just came outa the oven."
"Reminds me of cookies my grandmother used ta make."
-- KPGamer2024
CONTACT
"Hugs. And my vibrator. But mostly hugs." -- mammatbone
"If only one could purchase a giant hugging vibrator." -- sQueezedhe
Would Be Tough to Legislate
"Getting really high, changing the color saturation on my TV to crazy purple and red and green and watching old godzilla movies while getting more higher" -- Recordcraptaker
"Love me som old Godzilla movies."
"There are some amazing ones and some real duds though. But it is all worth it in the end. Or so I tell myself after having watched all 33 movies..." -- Zahz
A Couple Classics
"My biggest addiction is my phone. Everyday is a battle to check myself and put it away. It got really bad during The lockdown to the point I was neglecting my family responsibilities."
"The other addiction I just picked up purposely is nicotine. I used to smoke a lot of hookah and missed the buzz id get. I don't like drinking so much so nicotine just gives the little buzz I need to stay sane."
-- sajoser17
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